Kaiga Kanojono
by Coco-Minu
Summary: Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession. ShikamaruxIno, SaixIno.
1. Prologue

Note: Bored sadist after given hot chocolate and refusing to update her ShikaIno because it makes her feel unloved? Try the authour Coco-Minu. Clear? Good. 

Summary:_ Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono

* * *

**_**Prologue

* * *

**_

_"I could paint any canvas as I please."_

He was an artist. It only made logical sense. An artist would paint a canvas, a botanist would tend to her plants and a jealous man would watch in safe sanctity of shadows. Each of them in complete oblivion to the world, disregarding the fact that they each had a role in the relationship of a mix between deceit and naivety that went on between them. Infact, none of them may even realise that they even had such a role in what seemed to be such a fine drama. Apart from Sai. Sai was aware of his role.

_"I am an artist. Artists must follow their instinct in what to paint."_

He was the fine artist, who took no great pride in his work although his vanity and a small strive at perfection was shown in his work although he was certain about one thing in art. All paitings were made to fail, as otherwise the artist would learn nothing about them. Just like his books told him life was. All relationships between people could weaken and even be shredded, but the friendship was usually repaired and all those involved in the civil dispute would usually go back to normal. Unless they were broken beyond a point of repair, and the painting he wanted to complete was one in which his brush would be dipped in the blood of the other male to make the first stroke on the innocent white of the blank canvas. After all, all artists like to try and achieve perfection. Even sometimes in things which do not concern art.

_"It is only natural that an artist would be drawn to perfection."_

That was where a certain botanist entered this staged play, her own vanity causing her to strive for perfection herself in the ways of beauty. She would tend to her plants, not really feeling the dirt brush under her nails that she would wash out afterwards in order to make herself her narrow definition of what was right and pretty once more. She would tuck the free and somehow loosened strand of hair that had curled around from behind her ear back into place, and carry on in the same pattern once more without the slightest idea that somebody else might agree with her idea of human beauty. Hiding everything they were behind a shiny coat of gloss, one which not just anybody could peel away. That might make the person underneath lose the shine of perfection they had with it on.

_"All artists try to eradicate flaws in their work."_

The man hidden in the shadows, who the artist saw as unimportant and the botanist saw as a dear friend. He would watch the movements of the botanist closely, watching every rythmic step as she walked down the street in what he would call a pattern and what anybody else would say he was just slightly strange for paying attention to anyway. He would watch her blonde hair sway in the breeze softly during the seasons when she walked down the road, he was the one who got to hold her body when she used one of what others would call the tricks of the mind and he was the one who was always there in her finer moments. Not to mention her less so ones as well, even during practice when her hair would knot and his calloused hands would catch the tips of her fingers lightly for barely a few seconds as they sparred using only hand-to-hand combat. Maybe that was why he had thought he was entitled to her. He saw more than perfection. He saw her.

_"But sometimes, flaws can be stubborn. Is that not right?"_

Then a fourth came into their already captivating soap opera, the character with pink hair and sharp green eyes that had narrowed at his words from the start of this interrogation. Not to mention the fifth, the boy sitting next to her who was determined to become Hokage. The artist could see that would never happen though, not with his lack of stability and structure. Not to mention his clear childish ways and lack of common sense. The list could go on for well over three days, and the artist doubted even by then he would barely be a quater of the way through. The woman swore at him, saying flaws were only human.

_"I never expected you to understand."_

The angry outburst and snarls at the artist was from neither of them. His dull charcoal eyes shifted to see behind them to the door, where a person who Sai would call 'fat' and others would call a tad overweight in concern for the feelings of their slightly chubby friend. The artist ignored him, lowering his eyes once more to look directly into the colbalt blue that met them. He felt no discomfort, but the male in front of him clearly did. The artist could feel him squirm in his seat, and soon they had redirected their gaze and the artist was left staring at the empty features that made his facial structure.

_"I only tried to create perfection."_

Perfection was beautiful, it was true. Perfection in art, making things look ever so pretty. Perfection in skill, taking your trade to an entire new level. Perfection in beauty, making any botanists look as though they were almost not real. Like that botanist, that one who he had taken an interest in, was just an illusion and nonexistant by any other name than flawless. But perfection was always ruined somehow by something that got in the way. A mistake. A mistake in the shades of paint used in the art, making it look a little too dark for anybody to appriciate it. The mistake of a miniscule crack in a wooden table, making the carpenter who carved it ever so slightly off in his work. The mistake of jealous man who would have the botanist as he pleased, taking the pretty blue drug that she was away from the artist without a second thought about what the consequences would be. Sai smiled his fake grin, then looked to the man in front of him once more.

_"Weeds tangle into the ground around roots, preventing the roots from helping a flower bloom." _

Yes, the jealous man in the shadows was a weed. A weed that tangled into the ground around roots to prevent them from helping the shocking purple flower ever being so eyecatching and flawless that any botanists would fight for it. Sai had succeeded in removing the weed, but it seemed he had also damaged the perfection of the flower in the process. The delicate flower, the perfection that was the botanist had been marred. Sai had found a colour to describe his inital feelings towards the emotion he had felt at that moment, the new feeling he had discovered. The feeling books described so easily, but he could describe so much better in a simple word. Red. The feeling was red. Red for anger, the furious colour of Mars it represented, war, lust, love, blood. Hate. That colour summed it all up. It was all red. The flower had grown thorns, and pricked his ivory skin in spite of what he had done to nurture it. The woman arose, fury evident on her face. Her hand crunched into his stomach, and he could not hear a word. Maybe because the others around her did not care that she had created red. He pushed himself to his feet once more, sitting on the chair again without so much as flinching when her hand was grabbed in order to prevent her from punching him again, and much harder at that.

_"You know, I like flowers. Beautiful, perfect, purple and red spattered flowers."_

They all looked directly at him, but none said a word.

_"Especially seeing as I can paint them on my canvas as I please." _

He indicated to the one behind them they had taken from his lodgings.

_"Perfect, isn't it?"_

* * *

Reviews are loved, and make me put the first chapter up quicker. :)


	2. Possessive

Note: Coco-Minu is ill. :(

Warning(s): Bad language. Blood. Implied adult situations.

Summary: _Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

**_Possessive_**

* * *

"Stop running, little girl! We only want to have some fun!"

Ino carried on running, reminding herself that she was not little. She was old enough now to know better than to be walking around the streets late at night alone, especially in this area of town. That was the one thing about the Yamanaka Florists. It was near the end of town nobody wanted to visit, if they knew what was good for them. She looked behind, then stopped in suprise. It appeared she had lost the gaggle of men following her. If they had caught her, she did not even want to think what would have happened. Luckily, she was fast. Panting, she began to walk. But she could not shake the feeling something was watching her, even if it was not those men. She must have been imagining it.

Then came the crunching noise as her arm was twisted behind her back, and she was pushed up against the hard wooden fence. A cold snigger came, and she felt a scream rise in her throat. She did not let it out. She was better than that. She was a kunoichi, and showing fear was out of the question. The putried stench of his breath filled her nose as he leered in over her shoulder. She heard the crowd he had been with cackle.

"You should have stopped when I told you. I only want to play a game." He told her, and she smiled and laughed. It was almost as though a freezing air had drifted through the area. The man did not seem to find it so funny. He tightened his grip, but she did not wince. Honestly, men were so rough. They needed to be more careful, with the way they treated women. Especially her. They should know better.

"Oh, really? What kind of game?" She asked, her second hand sliding down to her thigh as he released his grip on it. He seemed amused she was playing along, and had let his guard down. Stupid, really. Adrenaline pumping, she slipped her hand into her kunai pouch. She was being taught by Morino Ibiki, and he had taught her not to take things lightly. If she had to be sadistic, cruel and unforgiving when it came to people like this, so be it.

"The kind of game where we have some fun, little girl. You thought you were the only one who could run fast? We are all ninja, shinobi. Know what that is?" He questioned, and her smile turnt into a beam of sunshine. She was going to have fun with this group of idiots. Sure, she may have misjudged their speed. But she was the better fighter. She was still faster, stronger. Merciless when people like this pushed her.

"Yes, I do," she told him as she flipped her kunai up and slashed his throat with it, "I do indeed."

Then there was a chorus of howls, his body falling limply to the floor. She observed it quickly. Yes, he was dead. The now rusting steel kunai had slid easily through his jugular, and it had been messy. Luckily, only her top was slightly stained. She frowned at the crimson spots on the back of her shirt as she looked over her shoulder, and her face darkened even further when she saw his blood drying on her skin. Why did men have to leave her with things to remember then by once she had killed them? It had ruined her new outfit.

"Get her! She killed Kazu!" Another three men ran at her quickly, two with swords drawn and the third some kind of crude dagger. She sighed, drawing another two kunai as she discarded the one the man named 'Kazu' had rusted with his blood. Then the one with the dagger lunged at her. She quickly ducked, bringing her leg around the back of his feet and making him fall to the floor. Without a moment of hesitation she was up again. One of the swords was dangerously close to her back, and it had sliced the ends of her hair. There were still another two in the background, waiting to get her if these two did not. She sighed softly, projecting her kunai into their throats. They dropped dead instantly, the only thing remaining of them stiff and useless bodies along with a small pool of blood to indicate where they had died. Then she looked up, the sword coming down ready to hit her shoulder. Ino flinched, frozen in time for that single moment as she awaited the pain with her eyes wide open, unable to close them. If she did, it would show fear. It would give them satisfaction.

But the pain never came. The man was dead in a matter of seconds, although it was not by her own hand. The other swordsman looked around wildly as she pulled herself to her feet, brushing the dust off her clothes. There was no sign of a saviour, and she could not kill somebody just by wishing them dead. How had he died then? The scent of so much blood was beginning to make her feel nauseous, and her head was spinning. The only clue she had was the black liquid on his body, which she was certain had not been there before. Maybe it was just imagination and the good luck of a heart attack or something. She doubted it, but what else could it be? Nobody could disappear into thin air, especially not that quickly.

"So, are you going to fight on in vain?" She asked the remaining man, who looked at her madly before running at her once more. He raised his sword, ready to strike her. Ino smiled. This would be her little test, seeing if it would happen again. The sword whipped through the air, ready to deliver his judgement. But then stood paralyzed, the sword hovering just above her head. Not so much as another split hair. She grinned, then looked behind him to where Shikamaru was standing, his shadow holding him firmly in place.

"You want the reverence of killing him, or do I get it?" Shikamaru asked plainly, the man looking at his in terror. Ino grinned, taking his sword out of his hand excuriatingly slowly just to get her point across to the last member of the gang that had hounded her, thinking she was just another random girl they could toy with.

"Sayonara." She said, then ran the sword through his stomach.

Shikamaru looked at her, a dark frown on his face. He did not appear too happy, and she would bet that she could guess why. He hated it when she dragged things out for the fun of it. If the man were stronger, then she might not have been able to slaughter him so easily.

"So, what happened here?" Shikamaru said plainly, almost sounding bored of this situation.

"Well, I was shopping..." Ino started, ready to go on one of her tandums of talk. Shikamaru sighed, and muttered troublesome. She quickly closed her mouth, letting the agitated male speak before she started to rant so loudly it woke up all the people living in the area. What did she care though? They had not helped her, although she could have been hurt and they must have heard the fighting. But what did she expect? It was just that kind of place, for those who lived on these desolate streets. Sakura must be proud of herself, coming from the safe side of town. Ino frowned bitterly at the thought of her rival, or supposed friend. She had all the good luck.

"Ino, I can guess. But seriously, why drag it out?" He said, as though it were a statement. She answered anyway.

"What, you mean_ killing the bastards_?" She retorted, a flicker of amusement playing in her eyes. People like that deserved to die. It made the world a better place, it would stop them from attemting to hurt another woman. You would think Shikamaru would be thankful, bearing in mind his precious Temari could have gotten hurt if they had found her when she came over here for the exams instead. She knew she was poking at a fire that she wanted to fade out, but she did not like to lose. Shikamaru had started an argument, and she would end it. Unfortunatly, she knew that although Shikamaru was lazy he did not like to lose either. One of them had to win in the end though, and the victor would be her.

While the battle raged on between them, a dark figure watched from the rooftops. Sketchpad in hand, he pulled out the black ink pot and quickly began to draw; her long hair that cascaded down her back, her fiery cerulean eyes that were narrowed into slits as they debated over her methods heatedly, her pink lips bared in a snarl as her muscles tensed at the words the male she was talking to came out with. He liked, no, he simply loved to paint this girl. Even when she was angry, and she had lost the glamour that she possesed only to be replaced with wild eyes and spite. Yes, she was perfect. Maybe that was why he liked to paint her so much, or maybe it was something else.

Sai was never really sure of the reason.

* * *

**_Beep! Beep! Beep!_**

Shikamaru slammed his hand down on the button of alarm clock, but it did not shut off. He grumbled, getting out of his bed and seeing he had jammed the button, promptly smashed it into his bedroom wall. He had not needed it anyway, waking him up so early. Just as soon as he had done so, his door crashed open. His mother stood there, in all her feaful glory, his whipped father trailing behind her with a basket of laundry.

"Shikamaru, you dare smash another alarm clock of mine and you will be on the streets! Money for alarm clocks does not grow on trees!" She shouted, and he pulled his pillow off his bed to cover his ears.

"Yoshino, we do not pay for his alarm clocks. He does." His father, Shikato, told his wife. Yoshino looked at him, her anger growing even more. Now he had done it.

"I do not care! Shikamaru, out of this house in ten minutes!" She yelled, then promptly slammed the door to the bedroom of her son. Shikamaru sighed. What a drag. That was not even enough time for a shower or breakfast. Taking off the shirt he had slept in, he pulled on another identical one. The door opened again with a crash, and he looked around thankful that had not happened when he had been putting clean underwear on.

Ino and Chouji stood in the doorway. He grinned slightly. Chouji looked just as whipped as his father did. The blonde bombshell grinned, her teeth beared widely as she forced back a frown. Because yes, Shikamaru could tell her grin was forced on. She wanted to kill him. Slowly. He looked at the remains of his alarm clock, the time jammed forever. Eleven thirty. He was supposed to be there at nine. His mother had defended that thing, too. After it woke him up over two hours later than it was supposed to.

"Shikamaru, I tried to stop her." Chouji whimpered from behind her, and Shikamaru glanced at him to reassure him that it was ok. Chouji fell silent once more.

"_Two hours and ten minutes_, Shikamaru. _Two hours and ten minutes_ we wasted waiting for you!" She screeched, and a loud bang came as his mother barged into the room past Chouji.

"Welcome, Ino dear. Two hours late, you say?" She said quietly. Shikamaru froze, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. When his mother was loud, she was dangerous. When she was quiet, however, it was much more frightening. It was the calm before the storm. Both tones of their voices were murderous.

"Yes, Mrs Nara. _Two hours and ten minutes_, and he was still here. He was supposed to meet us at nine." Ino's voice was low now too, and that meant one thing. When he got out of this house, all he was going to get from her was verbal cyanide. Dripping off her lips, insulting him in every way possible. Why did he have her on his team, of all people, for these past three years? Oh, yes. They had not picked their teams, or she would have been (at the time) with her precious Sasuke-kun. His thoughts darkened as his name passed through his head, remembering the time he was actually jealous of him for being able to command her attention so easily. Yes, he had never told Ino. But he did have a childhood crush on her a few years ago, but it had gradually faded into obscurity when he was certain she would never pay any attention to him as anythingmore than a friend. Like it mattered.

"Shikamaru, get out of the house this instant. I want you back at five for dinner, training or no training." Yoshino muttered, and Shikamaru frowned in response.

"I need to change my underwear first." He stated, and his mother waved her hand as Ino went a dashing shade of red. Chouji placed a friendly hand on her shoulder, and turnt her around so they could leave the room without any further protests. His mother and father followed after them without protest. Shikamaru sighed. Yeah, just a childhood crush on Ino Yamanaka, the Queen Bee of the academy placed on a team with losers. Every boy had loved her so much. But he was the only one, he was certain. No matter how much he tried to tell himself otherwise, he could not help it. She was so damn perfect, so damn Ino.

He was the only one that still loved her.

* * *

"Chouji, do you want my garnish?" 

Chouji nodded, and Ino handed it over to him without any protest. She hated garnish, and she probably always would. Shikamaru could not remember a time when she had eaten it in front of them. Picking at the meat with her chopsticks, she chose some beef and elevated the chopsticks to her mouth before popping it in and chewing it ravenously. Finally, she was off her stupid diet. Shikamaru did the same, eating his pork with relish.

"So, Chouji. How is your mother?" Ino asked another question, and Shikamaru's dark chocolate eyes darted to hers for a moment. Chouji must of noticed this, because he looked at Shikamaru across the table with a amused look on his face.

"Fine, she asked me to get some groceries. I will need to side track on the way to your house, if that's ok. I am sure Shikamaru is capable of walking you home on his own." Chouji said, watching in amusement as the face of both his friends dropped quickly. Ino sat with her mouth wide open beside him, clearly gobsmacked. It was a routine. Either both of them waled her home, or she made her own way there. It was never one of them. With her. Alone. Especially not Shikamaru! Chouji knew that since forever, so how could he have forgotten? She growled dangerously, but said nothing.

"Is that a no, Ino? Because what happened last night might happen again? Is that where you really were, shopping?" Shikamaru asked simply, and Ino glared at him, her blue eyes turning to ice. Her hand balled into a fist as she put her chopsticks down on the table.

"What do you care, Shikamaru? I could ask you the same question, your magical appearance at just the right time was astounding, was it not?" Ino hissed back, and Chouji frowned. What was going on between them?

"Are you suggesting I was following you?" Shikamaru laughed loudly, and Chouji could swear he could see Gai and his team in the corner looking around at them as if to ask the same thing.

"Are you suggesting I am paranoid? Something was following me, and it was not just that group of idiots!" Ino stood up from the table, her hands slammed down on the wood. She was making a scene. Correction, Chouji thought. They were making a scene much like lovers would. No, scratch that even. They argued like a married couple. Ino shifted past him, pulled enough money to cover her share of the meal from her pocket, pratically threw it at the table and left swiftly ignoring the stares of the patrons of the resturant. Shikamaru frowned, doing the same then racing after her with a quick sorry to his best friend for leaving him alone after that.

Chouji sighed, and looked around. They were all staring at him like he knew what was going on. So which one would be bold enough to ask him? Closing his eyes to think, he opened them again to see a brown haired girl with two buns in her hair sitting in front of him and grinning brightly. Tenten.

"So, are they dating yet?" Tenten asked him, and Chouji laughed.

The day that happened, Hell would freeze over.

* * *

"Miss Beautiful?" 

Ino looked up from where she sat, radiating a mixture of anger and hurt. Sai stood there, his awkward fake smile on his face. She hated those smiles. If he ever really cared to try and learn how to understand emotions, she was sure he would have done already by now. He had Naruto on his team, not some clingy little bimbo. Perhaps like Shikamaru thought she was? The very thought brought tears to her eyes. She brushed them away quickly, determined not to let Sai see them.

"Hey, Sai. Nice to see you." She replied dryly, and then saw him frown. Forcing a smile brighter than sunshine on, Ino tipped her head to indicate that he should sit next to her. He obliged, and she found herself confused. Before he had shown an interest in her, but she had never been inclined to so much as tell him the time of day. Regardless of how he treated her, how he made her blush, he was no Sasuke Uchiha. He was not a prize to be swiped from her rival, because her rival was not interested in him. They were supposed to be friends, as well. What a bittersweet relationship.

"You too, Miss Beautiful. Are you feeling well?" He asked, and although her eyes had drifted to watch the inanimate grass they suddenly flickered back to his straight and emotionless face. She eyed his sharp features with scrutiny, as though she were expecting a joke. If he understood what they were. He probably just learnt it was common courtesy to ask how somebody was by now. From Naruto or from books however, she was not sure.

"Fine, Sai. Perfectly fine." She breathed into the cold air, then inhaled deeply. Why did it matter to him?

"Then why were you weeping?" He asked, and her limbs became paralyzed. She stared at him a moment, as though she had frozen in time. A statue made of solid stone, chisled features slightly worn by the rain but still magnificent enough to make somebody stare in shock for a few seconds before reminding themself that she was just a piece of art. But, no. Ino was not art. Ino was living, breathing, being. Ino was Ino, and Ino was simply alive.

"I was not." She lied, biting her lip softly. She knew it was bad to lie, that was why she always tried honesty first. Apart from now. Sai would never know anyway. So what did it matter? She supposed she might as well protect her ego, it only figured for the boastful Yamanaka. She was always fine. Always.

"You are lying." Sai stated, his charcoal eyes watching as she remained silent for a moment, her limbs rigid in the cold air as she pulled her knees up on the bench and huddled them close to her for comfort. She would not ask him for any comfort. He probably did not understand the concept of it, she thought harshly. Her eyes welled with tears. He called her Miss Beautiful so lightly, but he felt nothing for her. It hurt more than she would like to admit. Just as arguments with Shikamaru hurt her. Not that she would ever tell him. That would let him know that he won, and she would never admit defeat.

"So what?" She replied, her voice breaking. Why did he care? _Ah_, she_ almost _forgot. Just _almost_. He could not care, could he?

"So," he said simply, "what is wrong?"

She stared at him again, shocked beyond belief. How could he sit there, pretending to care? Nobody could pretend with emotions all that well unless they were actors, or had experience doing so. He almost had her fooled. He should go for an award, really. He would probably beat all the leading stars unanimously in a vote. But although she was thinking harsh comments she could say to him just to spite him, she found herself clinging to him like she was a child and soaking his shirt with salty water that seeped from her eyes.

"Shikamaru. He keeps being such an arse!" She whimpered, clinging desperatly to him. She could guess that Sai had frowned in discomfort. He did not know what to do, clearly. But once again, she was proven to be incorrect. A strong, sturdy arm slowly wrapped around her back, even if it felt as though it were a bit awkward.

"Maybe because he is afraid?" Sai said softly, whispering in her ear. She laughed, a little tinkle in the now howling wind. It was threatening to rain, she noted mentally as the skies began to turn darker with clouds. She liked the rain, but not when she did not have an umbrella. It made her hair stick to her back, and go limp. It took hours to dry.

"What could he possibly be afraid of?" Ino groaned as the downpour began, but saw no reason to move. Sai had not, so she would not either. Even if it was cold and wet, she was comfortable in his strange embrace. It had been a long time since she had felt comfortable. She let herself relax a little, her chin resting on her shoulder as she closed her eyes.

"Of where you were last night. He might think you were with another man." Sai stated simply. She opened her eyes, wide in confusion. She must have been imagining things. Sai had to have been in the resturant. Honestly, she was getting paranoid. Thinking Sai, of all people, would be following her? She let out a hollow laugh. The very thought was laughable!

"Last night, I was shopping." She said, feeling her eyes flutter open and close again like the wings of a ladybird. Softly, discreetly. She was tired, and she knew it. Letting out a yawn, she began to sit up again off of Sai. His limbs must have been numb from her weight and the wet, so she was doing him a favour.

"I know, Ino. I know." Sai whispered, and she looked at him quickly. Nothing. She was imagining things. Sai saying strange things, Sai stalking her, Sai comforting her. This was probably all a dream right now. She frowned.

"Sai, pinch me." She said, and he obliged without hesitation as she stood up. She felt the sting as the skin caught between his fingernails, and she shuddered. No, it was not a dream at all.

"Did you think it was a dream?" He asked. She grinned madly, her eyes searching him for some sign of difference. Who was this person, and what had they done with the seemingly emotionless Sai? Admittidly, the last time she had seen anyone from his team was well over a month ago, even Sakura. Maybe he had changed. A little.

"Kind of, sort of. I should get going." She answered indirectly, indicating her soaking clothes and the still pouring rain. He too was soaked, his wet hair sticking to his forehead and the nape of his neck. But what she could not help but stare at was his stomach. She had never noticed how toned he was. The rain was pratically running off his muscles. She mentally slapped herself. Sai, of all people. She should stop that train of thought right now.

"I will walk you home. It's common courtesy for a man to walk a woman home, right?" He smiled. She opened her mouth ready to protest, ready to tell him no because she only ever walked home with her team. She only ever walked home with Chouji and Shikamaru together, and if they could not walk her then nobody could.

"Yes, if you want." She found herself replying. She swallowed the lump in her throat, telling herself one thing repeatedly in her head. Ino Yamanka, you are not allowed to like Sai. He does not have emotions, Sakura and Naruto both told you. Then another voice argued back, saying Sakura had just made it up and got Naruto to go along with it. She damned herself for being so indecisive, then heard the crack of lightning. She looked up at the sky in fear. If there was one thing she was petrified of, it was not being murdered in her bed as she slept or being killed in such a brutish way the only thing left of her was little chunks of meat. No, Yamanaka Ino? Her fear was much more irrational. She was scared of lightning. Looking at Sai again, she watched as he extended his arm for her to take. Well, at least he was a gentlemen. So she accepted. What harm could it do just this once anyway?

Meanwhile, another man watched from the shadows in rage.

"So what? It is only one time, Shikamaru. She is bound to be angry with you right now, she is probably just doing it from mental spite to get back at you. She's being the usual pissed off Ino. Just leave it." Chouji told him, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of his best friend. Shikamaru's brown eyes swivelled to meet the small dark beady eyes belonging to his companion.

"She would not let me walk her home though, would she?" He spat. There came a pause.

Chouji did not know how to reply.

* * *

Later that night, Sai began to paint again. He began to paint yet another picture of the perfect girl, her long blonde hair and bright blue orbs of eyes wide and shining with life. Her lucious lips, soft, pink. Tempting. She would be so easily crushed, if she were a flower. Dainty and weak. But inside, strong and violent. She had so many moods, so many emotions to paint and show just for him. 

_Yamanaka Ino._

What did he learn from that idea, making him want to paint more than he had ever before? He learnt an emotion, one which he had only previously learnt from his books.

He had learnt to be_ possessive._

She was going to be his.

* * *

So, this was more of a warm-up kind of chapter to see the situation at the start of the story. Next chapter is fuelled with the fruit and nut cake plot bunnies. Although this is a multi-chapter fic, I do not suppose it will have many chapters...the idea would die if it was dragged out for too long. 

Reviews are loved. :)


	3. Rage

Note: I am no longer ill. 

Warning (s): Bad language, light blood. Non-lime/lemon sexy time.

Summary: _Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Dedication: All my reviewers for the past two chapters. That means **DivineKunoichi, sad little monkey, Esoteric Memories, SliverOfSilver88, Doctor Kiba, fallenmad, joyrid3, AkemixHanako, animehime7, LuvInu88** and **all of the anonymous reviewers**. Thank you very much, you keep me writing this.

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

_**Rage**_

* * *

"So, I assume you all know why we are here. Six shinobi were found dead." 

Her blue eyes flickered upwards quickly, and Shikamaru watched as the warm blue they usually showed merged into ice. He knew how to read her, and she should know it too. So could Chouji and Sakura. Chouji from being around them so much, and Sakura simply because of them being friends. He sometimes thought others could too, recluses like Neji Hyuga who showed no emotion. His white eyes were watching her reaction too, but nobody else seemed to notice. His own dark eyes then met with white, telling him silently one thing and one thing only. Neji, I do not care how powerful you are. Do not get involved. He hoped Neji had read it as that, and he probably had for he turned away without a second glance in his direction.

"Does anybody want to own up to it right now, if anybody in this room killed them?"

Without warning, her eyes had moved to meet his without so much as a second thought. He knew what was going through her mind. Do not confess. They may say the punishment will be worse later, but she knew the way around it. Or, he could guess that she hoped she would. He looked away to rid himself of any feelings of guilt, then prepared to hand them in. It would be better if they did so now. He began to raise his hand, but it was immediatly grabbed and pulled down by Sai next to him as soon as he had lifted a finger. Oh, so now Sai was getting involved? Whatever Ino was plotting, he was not amused.

"Tsunade-sama, it was me."

His eyes swivelled in shock, then landed on the person next to him with a pregnant silence. Sai was saying it was him? Of all people? Were they honestly going to believe that? His eyes darted swiftly from Tsunade to Sai, her calm expression but obviously hidden rage and his blank emotionless face as he prepared himself to continue.

"They were trying to take advantage of a_ defenceless_ woman. They threatened to kill her."

The eyes of the current Hokage bulged, and she looked as though she was going to strangle the poor boy. Shikamaru sat, his jaw feeling as though it were about to drop and give every little white lie Sai had just said away. His eyes shifted to Ino again. Normally, she would sit looking indifferent and cool if she were involved in something. But now she was squirming in her seat, clearly put out of place by this strange behaviour Sai was exhibiting. What was going on here? He stared at Sai, who did not look at him back for so much as a nanosecond.

"Sai, we will need to discuss this. Everyone else, you may leave."

Shikamaru stood, his gaze lingering on Ino as she had remained paralyzed in her seat. Walking over to her, he tapped her lightly on the shoulder and felt her jolt to life beneath his touch. She looked at him back, not knowing what to say until he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out of the room before she could protest. But once they were outside of the room, she was back to the way she had been the day before. _If not worse_, Shikamaru thought. He did not voice that particular opinion however. It was best to save his neck, rather than have Ino rip through his throat like she would rip through that of an opponent. Without even the slightest sign of difference in thought about ending a life. He could never understand why since she had been working with Ibiki, killing had become so easy for her. She must have a reason to be able to do it so easily. If she did, she had yet to tell him. That was for sure.

"Shikamaru, we cannot just let him do that! We both know that it was not him!" Ino hissed darkly, so that only he could hear. Chouji was lingering on the stairs, but he seemed to catch the drift of their conversation. His eyes read slight perplexion, but Chouji being Chouji; he would always, without question be too kind to ask them about it because he felt it might upset (the female one) or anger (also in her case, because she was always so damn annoyingly dramatic about every little thing) one or the other.

"Yes, we can Ino. You and I both know that I would go to the end of the world for our entire team, no matter how troublesome it might be for me to do so." Shikamaru told her, determination in his voice that she would not go back in there to clear the matter up for her conscience. Not that she seemed to care about it at all.

"But the question is, Shikamaru, no matter how much of a drag it would be, would you be willing to stay there?" Ino retorted icily, and he flinched at her tone of voice and how strung up she was over the matter. Chouji walked over to intervene, to stop yet another fight between the two.

"Yes, because it would mean I would be away from you. Far away." Shikamaru laughed coldly, and stormed off. Chouji was drawn between two options. One, go and find Shikamaru and advise him to walk his lazy arse back here and apologize to her profoundly. Two, stay here and sort Ino out; because to be perfectly honest, it looked as though her eyes were about to fill with tears for the first time in months. He frowned. He had not seen her cry since somebody had last died, and even then she had refused to admit she was crying for him. She had claimed something had just caught her eyes (maybe dust or something, had been her excuse if he remembered correctly) when she had seen Kurenai so far down the list of pregnancy stages. Or if she did cry, she would brush away the tears quickly without hesitation. It would never be like this, she had never let them stream freely down her cheeks and just sobbed. As guilty as he would feel for it later, he followed his gut instinct.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him after Shikamaru.

* * *

"_Bitch_." 

Shikamaru continued to mutter obscenities to himself under his breath, not really caring how many people were now looking at him as he stomped down the dirt path to the ramen stall. He heard panting behind him, and he knew it was Chouji. He just did not care right now, and he flat out refused to stop and wait for him even when the odd stranger pointed out that his friend was following him, looking very tired although very determined. He had given the man such a look he had shivered with what Shikamaru presumed was fright, then quickly brushed past him. _Go ahead, get lost after pissing your pants. _Shikamaru thought moodily, kicking the stone by his foot for good measure and then continuing to walk down the street. Throwing himself into the seat, he folded his arms and waited for the old man to serve him. It was better to go here than to the resturant their group usually went to, because she would probably go there for lunch. One thing was certain, and he knew it would end in him doing so if he saw her. He did not want to apologize.

"Shikamaru, you know she is your friend. She must be on her period or something." Chouji shrugged, still panting heavily as he sat down beside him. Shikamaru glared at him, and Chouji frowned. He had not even complained that Shikamaru had made him run down the street after him, shouting his name so loudly that Shikamaru could clearly hear him but chose to ignore him instead. He also did not complain that Shikamaru had glared at him, which was a look that he had only ever seen him give to Ino on what Chouji would call her one of her worse days and Shikamaru would call Ino just being a bitch with a sarcastic as usual added on the end when he was not in a brilliant mood. To say the least.

"Ino and I, friends? Chouji, she sees me as another bastard to go in for interrogation right now." Shikamaru stated, and Chouji nodded as Teuchi placed a bowl of ramen in front of him. He grinned for a split second. He did not even need to order, because Teuchi knew what he liked. But Shikamaru was too unpredictable. Ayame had even blushed at his fowl language, Chouji noted. Idiot.

"Oh?" Chouji muttered between slurps of ramen.

"I would prefer to call her a sadist, and call me a victim." Shikamaru stated, then quickly told Ayame that he wanted a pork ramen. Chouji laid down his chopsticks, looking at the man sitting next to him with a worried look upon his face. Sure, they fought before, but they never usually fought like this. Something just seemed wrong. Chouji sat silent for a moment, then his eyes swivelled to meet those of his best friend. He should tell him the truth. Shikamaru would do the same for him.

"Look, Shikamaru. I have never wanted to kill anyone as much as one of my best friends like that." Chouji said calmly, his hands at the same time balling into fists. Why did they had to be so difficult? They cared for one another more than they probably should, that much was obvious. But Ino just liked to think of him as a masochist, and he liked to think of her as some sort of Princess who needed protecting when she could fight perfectly capably herself. Then the next minute they would be fighting each other, regardless of how kind they had been to each other moments beforehand. It was annoying for him, to say the least. Not to mention just plain idiotic that they had sudden flips in attitude like that when they had no reason for it at all.

"Oh, good. You can relate to me. Strange how Ino makes people feel like that." Shikamaru said savagely , and Chouji looked at him before rolling his eyes. That had not been what he had meant by that at all. For a genius, Shikamaru was sometimes rather slow at catching on.

"I was talking about _you_." He replied as the bowl was placed in front of Shikamaru. His limbs froze in an agitated manner, then he lifted his head and looked directly at Chouji with a ludicrous look upon his features. He thought he was joking, Chouji could tell. He frowned. His urge to laugh had quickly gone when he saw Chouji do that. The pugdy male prodded at his second bowl of ramen which Ayame had put in front of him as he picked up his chopsticks again. This was not going well.

"Nice to see that you have taken her side." Shikamaru spat, then before Chouji could protest he had thrown the money for his bowl on the table and disappeared. The seat next to him was quickly taken by Naruto, who looked at Chouji as though he were in deep thought.

"I get that alot with Sakura and Sai, more from Sakura though. You should not worry about it. Shikamaru and Ino will figure it out for themselves, it is better off that way." He told Chouji, then immediatly began to bubble unceasingly about not meaning that to sound bad because he had just heard their conversation as he passed and thought he might help and then-Chouji had clamped a hand over his mouth, and told him to just order his ramen. Naruto did so sheepishly, running a hand through his brightly coloured hair that seemed to match his _sunshine-beam-happy-mood_ (as Ino called it) constantly.

Then it hit him. He had always said they acted like an old married couple, and that Tenten girl had thought there was something between them? Well, of course they were not married. But what if they were really just confused, playing with each other and hurting each other until they both finally saw just how much they really did love each other? Well, knowing them they probably already did know. Shikamaru was not one to deny things like that because it made things even more troublesome as he so eloquently put it, but Ino was. Even if she did like him as more than a friend, she would always be too stubborn to admit it. That was it. It had to be. Shikamaru was in love with the most troublesome woman ever to grace the planet beside his mother. He grinned, and Naruto looked at him as though nervous.

"Chouji, why are you smiling like that?" Naruto asked, his voice on edge as he did so. Chouji did not reply, the small smile still gracing his lips without any reason known to his friend. But if his reason was wrong, it would be something he could never ask Shikamaru about again without some form of question as to if he himself liked Ino as more than a friend. He shuddered at the thought, but his smile remained.

Shikamaru was in love with Ino.

* * *

A single drop of blood spilled unto the table. 

Ino swore under her breath, although she knew her father probably heard it anyway. The thorn of the pink rose she had been carefully taking them off of to prevent a customer hurting themselves had cut her, and she hated it when she pricked her fingers. It would always leave small dents in her skin until the cut healed up, marring her hands. She had just given herself a home manicure as well, not that it did much good. She could see a small chip in the purple nail polish.

Her father nodded towards her, indicating he was going to head upstairs into their home. She thought a good night, for she knew her father could read thoughts just as easily as she could, and he walked through the door behind her. They need not say needless things, they could communicate with each other like that without the hassle of ever being overheard talking about certain topics. She preffered it that way. She heard his feet pat up the stairs softly, and as soon as she was certain he was really upstairs she went back to working on the arrangement she had been preparing to go on sale the at some point during the day. Buisness had been slow today, and something out there just seemed intent on making her day pass insufferably.

Her eyes drifted back to the flowers she had been using. Pink roses, a calla lily and some purple lilacs. The purple lilacs for the first emotion of love. A single calla lily for beauty. Pink roses for perfect happiness, gentility, grace, please believe me. Syringa, zantedeschia, and damn. She had forgotten the botanical name for pink roses. She frowned. They had never been her favourite flower. Cheap, any man could get them for somebody he cared about. It was typical of men to buy them, especially late on February 14th when the idiots had forgotten about how important the day was to most women. Although Ino had a string of admirers when she was young, she did not like Valentines. It was another tacky public holiday, exploited in order for businesses to make more money. Not that she was complaining that she and her father recieved more money on that day. It just seemed a bit pointless.

Pushing down her thumb on her pinky to pressurise it and stop the bleeding, she only heard the bell chime to indicate their was a customer when...wait, infact. She did not hear at all. But her eyes had drifted upwards, and she had almost jumped out of her skin when they met with the dark orbs of Sai.

"Sai, you startled me." She breathed, and he grinned sheepishly. Somehow after the events of the previous day, it no longer seemed fake to her. He had changed a fair deal, and nobody could just have no emotions whatsoever when they were around Naruto. Not to mention being around a high maintenance walking disaster like Sakura, she snorted in disdain for the other girl in a rather unladylike manner and grinned. But she was the same. Maybe that was why they were such good friends. She sometimes felt sorry for Hinata and Tenten, having to put up with them. Snapping out of her daydream, she drifted back to reality so she could concentrate on exactly what this luscious male specimen was saying.

Hold up. _Luscious male specimen?_

Her eyes roamed to his body, wanting to explore every nook and cranny of it like an engineer would want to explore a new machine. His abs were extremely eye catching, his blank face a slate that could be filled with just as many emotions as her if he wanted it to at some point in the future when he understood them a bit more. His shiny dark hair, which she wanted to reach out and run her hands through. Not to mention those pink lips that he nibbled at when he was thinking deeply, a small habit she had noticed.

Being able to go in and out of the bodies (as well as minds) of others had made her extremely comfortable in her own, and if she could go into his even once she knew what she would want to do in it. Make wild love to herself, or himself in a matter of speaking. She felt her cheeks burning. Contrary to popular belief and rumours, Ino was not a maneating slut. Infact, she was still a virgin. But one thing was for certain. If Sai did not want her to be, she would not be. He was, in the words of Sakura, _although an arsehole, buff stuff_. In her own words, _pretty fine_.

She did not know which of the ways of describing his good looks sounded more _mortifying._ But it would be up for debate later, when she went to see Sakura at the tea house. Of that she was sure.

"You cut your finger?" His awkward smile changed into a frown, and before she could tell him it was just a scratch he had taken her hand and lifted it to his eye level to examine it. Rather than just offering her a plaster or just letting her heal it herself like Tsunade had taught her however, Sai seemed to have a different idea. Raising it to his lips, he planted a soft kiss on it.

"Sai, do you know what you just done? Or what you did earlier for me and Shikamaru?" She said flustered as he let her hand go so it could return to her side. He smiled again, one of those confusing smiles that were not awkward but infact just plain befuddling. With those on, nobody could ever tell if he did or did not know what he had meant himself or if he had ever intended to help at all.

"Maybe, Miss Beautiful. For now, you will just have to wonder. How much is this?" He asked, presenting a white carmellia beneath her nose. She frowned, breifly wondering who it was for. Sakura, most likely. She had fallen for his little act as well. She sighed. At least she knew now that he was a good actor. She briefly wondered if he knew what they meant. A white carmellia was to show somebody the meaning of you are adorable, or perfected loveliness.

"Ah, you can have it. Just do not tell my father, he would kill me for giving any more favours to friends." She grinned, thinking how lucky the girl he was going to give it to would be. If it was a girl. She blanched a moment, but quickly went back to smiling brightly. It would be Sakura. Everyone seemed to like her. Naruto, Rock Lee. She sometimes even wondered if Chouji had a thing for her, because when he went to the hospital he would only ever let Sakura treat him. No. That could not be right. He let Tsunade and Shizune treat him too. Well that was her theory gone. Sai smiled again, his eyes seeming to twinkle in the dim light of the shop. Now she was getting lost in his eyes? Please.

She was not a damsel in distress waiting for some _Sasuke_ (like she knew certain people were) to ride in and rescue her from this dull existance, because her existance was not dull and she was most certainly not a pathetic excuse for a girl like those women in the storybooks her father had read to her when she was young. She did not need traitors like that. She had pride, it was her nature to be boastful because of who she was. She was Yamanaka Ino, and Yamanaka Ino could kill. _Not only with her_ _charming good looks_ _and_ _feminine wiles_ _either_, she thought cheekily to herself. Although they were quite useful on spying missions. After all, nobody ever thought a pretty girl could be smart. Or that they could cut through people with harsh metal weapons if they ever were caught out on the odd one off infiltration gone wrong, for that matter.

"Here." Sai handed her the flower, and her mouth dropped open in shock as he winked at her and walked out of the door without any sign of difference. Did he even know the meaning of it? A small smirk came unto her features as she thought about if he did, and then she laughed. Who ever heard of giving the flowershop girl a flower anyway? Her smirk morphed into a smile. It was more than that bastard on her team had given her. Chouji gave her nice gifts, and although she was certain his father had helped him pick them out it was the thought that counted. But Sai had given her this now, spontaneously as well. Even if he probably did not know why, the sentiment was still there. Her grin widened.

Well, at least he was original.

* * *

Just under an hour later, Ino hummed to herself.

Since Sai had been there, she had found herself in a considerably better mood. Sure, he may be slightly odd but he was sweet in his own way. The bell jingled in the silence, and this time did hear it. Looking up in one swift motion, she saw Shikamaru standing at the door, looking very much as though he had swallowed his pride for some reason. She frowned. Even if he was here to apologize, it did not mean she was very happy with him. Infact, she would actually say she disliked him alot right now. Not hated, because hate to her would always be a strong word. He knew it too.

"Nara-san. What can I do for you? We were just closing. But you want a flower for Temari, right?" She asked, watching the danger flicker in his eyes. She knew he hated it when she mentioned Temari in a way which she clearly thought was more than friendship. He had folded his arms at the use of his second name and the formality. He probably was wondering what she was playing at, because she knew better as the one who entered minds and could do what she wanted with them than to mess with his head. It just did not work, sometimes. However, she was Ino. She was a Yamanaka for a reason. She was on his team, too. So infact, yes. It did work more often than not, because she knew just how to press him in the wrong direction. She knew it too, that she could get under his skin. It pleased her to no end.

"Cut the crap, Ino. I came to say _sorry_, if you must know." He told her, sounding a little harsher than he would have liked to. With him advancing towards her, Ino shrunk down a bit from her clearly heightened authority over him. She frowned darkly. Troublesome thing as it was (or so he would put it) he knew just how to piss her off too. But that was not all that he knew. If he wanted, she was pretty sure that he could make her melt like butter in the summer heat. Because Shikamaru could be even more manipulative than her, each of his plans deliciously articulate and meticulously thought out and detailed on a level not even she could compare with.

"Fine way of showing it, Shikamaru. But I suppose you mean it. Just like every other apology I hear." She said, clearly not wanting to hear his own apology at all. She hoped she made that clear, because right now if she had the chance she was sure she would have slapped him as hard as she could without hesitation. Guilt and regret could come later, if she even felt it when it came to him.

"What do you mean by that?" He pressed his hands against the desk she had been working on, glaring at her intensely. She sneered at him, moving in to meet it. Two could play it that game. If he wanted to fuck about, then so be it.

"I can hear thoughts, Shikamaru. Or did you not remember that from these three years of working together? When people apologize, it is usually too little and too late. That, or they do not really mean it. I know the way this world works. They know it. They think about it all the time, even as they wander the streets. Do not make me into your enemy, Shikamaru." She hissed, venom in her words. She could tell he did not listen to her words. Perhaps trying to calm himself down? They were so close their noses were almost touching. There was a light pink blush on his cheeks, but he was ignoring it. She did not notice herself.

"No, but I can try to say sorry anyway. I am only human, Ino. I have the same emotions, same feelings, same senses, same anger, same happiness, same sadness, same urges as anybody else." He told her, and her hair stood on end at the word urges. He actually liked somebody? Was that what he had just implied? She grinned, her smile and thoughts readable to him at that moment. Of that much she was certain. He had said too much, and now she was getting that look that read one thing to him and one thing only. She was sure he knew that look. It was the cat look. Him? He was the mouse, now trapped in her claws.

"Urges, eh? What is all that about, Shika-kun?" She whispered, her hot breath tickling his skin. She knew it _tantalized_, _tormented_, just plain tortured him when she treated him like this. Like she was the one with all the power, doing as she pleased as he could only stand back and watch himself spill out his guts to her willingly with a sick sense of remorse for doing so afterwards that he had grown accustomed to after years of being on her team. His thoughts from earlier were coming back, and she could tell what he was thinking straight away as he let his guard down. _Scheming little bitch_.

"Nothing you need to know about." He said, trying to stop thinking about her. Her long blonde hair, her blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight, her curves now she had gained some weight and how the sweat ran off them when they were training, pushing her to her limits and when he got to hold her as she tried to improve the travelling speed of her mind possession. Then his speeding heart as he knew he was falling. _For her_. She would know in a matter of seconds, and her eyes had widened in amazement. She already knew. She could hear him in her mind, thinking about it all. He just could not stop thinking about it. She froze where she stood, still meer millimetres between them.

"Shika-" Her words were cut off.

His lips had connected with her own, passing the short distance between them in what seemed to have taken hours to create barriers using to drive each other completely insane and then broken down in a few seconds to create this new sensation Ino was not sure she knew how to describe. His chapped lips on her own moist pink ones, forcing them open but in a pleasurable way to let him explore her mouth with his tounge. She melted for a moment, letting him do so as they battled for dominance. Then just as puzzling, she shoved him off. How could she feel like that about her own team mate, one of her best friends? It was just wrong. He seemed to sense her confusion too, but it did not seem to matter.

"Ino, I am not sure it is a good thing at all. But I think-" He started.

"Shikamaru, what in hell is going on?" She cut him off. He continued.

"I think I am in love with you."

* * *

That night, Sai began to paint. He was painting her again. Sleeping, her head rested softly on her pillow whilst she dreamt sweetly. With a certain amount of pride, he noticed she was still holding the white carmellia from earlier. Not knowing he was right outside her bedroom window, watching her every movement intently as she did so. But as hard as he tried to concentrate, something just did not seem_ right_ this time. 

She always looked so pretty, so quaint and perfect in her own little world where nothing could harm her and he could just sit back and watch her do as she pleased. It would affect her, giving her different expressions each time. Joy. Sorrow. Pain. Hurt. Amusement. Anger. There were so many ways to feel, and she was the most emotional person he had ever seen. But this emotion he felt now, it was new to him.

The way he had felt when he had seen Shikamaru kiss her from this very spot, her wide open eyes in suprise. He had thought he would want to paint that, that emotion. Surpise. It was another feeling for her, and it would look perfect among the other pieces that he had already painted of her.

If he could remember correctly, Naruto had described this feeling as rage. Sai wanted to hurt Shikamaru. As bad as he knew this probably was however, it did not bother him. After all, Sakura and Naruto wanted to hurt him whenever he insulted Sasuke. It was something of the same sort of feeling, right? That was what it had to be. There was no other explanation.

Infact, the idea of hurting Shikamaru gratified him immensely.

Sai decided that he _liked_ rage.

* * *

Things are heating up in the soap opera, infact it is the hottest thing since sliced bread (as some of my friends would say) with all the drama. Also, if anyone was wondering the _'buff stuff'_ quote was also from her. I would never say that aloud. This may seem to be moving fast. Well, yes. It will. This is only going to be a few chapters. 

Also, forgot to add onto the start with the dedication. Thank you to **AkemixHanako, DivineKunoichi, Doctor Kiba, SliverOfSilver88 **and** joyrid3** for favouriting this. Another thank you to all of the above and **Kat Whaat, MisSs005, animehime7, fallenmad, reg4444** and **sad little monkey** for alerting it. Until next update, peace and blueberry muffins to all of you guys! You make me update at impossible hours of the morning unconventionally like this because I want you to wake up to something that will (hopefully) put you in a good mood. Also for this chapter..._extra long no jutsu! _One thousand more words than I normally write per chapter, because I am happy with the reviews at the current time.

Reviews are loved. :)


	4. Happiness

Note: I should be doing an introduction on the Holocaust for my History essay. I should not be writing this. But I am. So, yeah. Mega epic fail. Hints of one sided ShikamaruxTemari in this chapter.

Warning (s): Bad language, stalking, slight hinted perversion due to Naruto.

Summary: _Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Dedication: All my reviewers for the past chapter; **SliverOfSilver88****, sad little monkey, Esoteric Memories, AkemixHanako, reg4444, animehime7 **and **all of the anonymous reviewers. **Thank you very much!

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

 _**Happiness**_

* * *

 "So, care to tell me why you killed them? A real reason would be good this time."

The plain emotionless eyes of Ibiki Morino slid over the young male, who exhibited about as much a show of feelings as a rock did. It made him uneasy. He himself could switch it on and off as he pleased, and he had taught his protégé to do the same. Yamanaka Ino. She was a brilliant interrogator, to say the least about her. She never had to refer to old violent methods; she knew the human mind was easier to play about with when it was not harmed in the slightest. She knew how to make people plead for mercy, using only her oldest jutsu and sometimes one of her sadistic little mind tricks. She could make men and women alike reveal their darkest secrets to her in the space of under a minute, and not even he could understand how she did it sometimes.

"That was the truth." Sai answered, his voice bleak.

Ibiki could already imagine her hands twitching, ready to reach out in one simple shape and the little grin that graced her features when she knew that she was doing her job better than anybody else ever had. He grunted, then turnt his back on the boy who had seen more in his lifetime than most grown men ever had in terms of violence and treachery.

"That is your cue, Captain." Ino frowned beneath her ANBU mask, but Ibiki must not have sensed it. He walked out of the room without another word in her direction. After all, she was the leader of her own ANBU squad. She could handle somebody like Sai easily. Or she should be able to, at least. The sound of the door shutting left a vast silence, and the charcoal eyed supposedly charmless man watched her intently.

"You carry yourself calmly for a killer. I wonder, how do you sleep at night?" Sai asked, waiting for a reaction to tell him who it was. But not one came. Instead, the female figure stood up straight, then gracefully glided across the room before kneeling down in front of him and pulling out a kunai. His first thought was that she was going to kill him, if he allowed it to happen. But as he went to block it, she had switched the weapon to the other hand and sliced the ropes binding his wrists tightly.

"Easily, Sai. Should you not have been able to remove the ropes by yourself? That is _genin _level stuff." A mocking joke came, but it was not a cruel one. He looked intently at the porcelain mask, shaped like some kind of feline animal. From the red paint, it looked like a lioness. Perhaps a leopard or maybe he was getting it completely wrong for it also resembled a wolf. He smiled his awkward grin, reserved for just as awkward situations.

"Miss Beautiful. I should have known." His fingers lifted to remove her mask to check his guess, but she moved away. Not that it mattered. It was her. She carried herself in the same calm way, with the same voice and her hair had been a key giveaway. Not many people in the village were the same shade of blonde that she was.

"Sai, I know you did not kill them. Infact, I am pretty sure we both know that. So why did you take the fall for me?" She mentally added Shikamaru as well, but did not dare to say it aloud. On the off chance anybody was listening, there was then no way that Shikamaru could be implicated as well. Yes, that was defiantly it. Sai knew it.

"I have my reasons." He replied.

"_Bullshit_." He glanced at the mask, hiding her sharp features from his view. He decided he did not like that mask. It hid too much. It was useful against an enemy, but not if that enemy had a good memory for small details. She was probably in a bingo book somewhere, and somebody had probably picked up Yamanaka Ino was not only a shinobi but also the leader of the elite ANBU squadron one. Just as he now had.

"Not really. Can I ask a favour?" He questioned, and she tilted her head to the side. She looked remotely confused or even amused perhaps. His books had never been entirely right at describing emotions. Maybe Ino was just too odd a person, or too unpredictable. But everything each one of his books said was something she managed to contradict, and it was not only one time she had managed a feat like that. It was now well over twenty.

"What kind of favour?" She replied, and he could already imagine her lips pursing beneath her mask like they did when she expected something she did not want to hear being said as loud as Naruto could shout it.

"I want to paint you. Please." He added the last word in quick succession, as he imagined she would probably be quite shocked. He was correct in that assumption. Even though he could not see behind the mask, he could guess that her mouth was hanging wide open and her bright cobalt eyes were bulging.

"That is the reason you took the fall? Because you want to paint me?" She asked, and he knew that she was perplexed by his behaviour. He grinned, the same fake grin he gave Sakura and Naruto when he wanted them to believe him. Except Ino actually seemed to _believe _it as well as his real smiles.

"Yes." Pretty much, he added in his mind. He kept up his grin, and she sighed.

"Sure. When do you want to see me, where and what do you want me to wear?" She asked, her exasperated tone almost making him laugh. She really had no clue what she done to people sometimes. She knew that she was pretty, but did not see her untapped potential of being able to blow mindswith just her looks.

"Whenever you please, wherever you please and whatever you please." He beamed, and she laughed at his response before opening the door and telling him they should both leave. She would make up some excuse for Ibiki later.

But later, Naruto would tell Sai (much to the chagrin of Sakura, who would then punch him) that he should have answered differently to her question. According to him, Sai should have said a few simple words.

_Ten, my apartment_ and _nothing_.

* * *

"Ino, are you there? Or are you trying to give me the slip?"

Shikamaru mumbled to himself, no answer coming as he knocked on the door of the flower shop. Inochi had not answered the door, and when he looked through the clear glass that proudly boasted a colourful window display he was sure only one woman ever would have managed to put together in such a stunning array. So if she was not there, and she was not at the interrogation quarters where was she? Morino had said she had left, along with the man who had been there at the time. The name of him slipped his mind. Strange for an interrogator. Maybe he had just seen Shikamaru's face darken when he mentioned it was a male, and chose to say nothing more. He could guess who it was anyway. He frowned.

She was one of his best friends.She was bordering on sisterly affection, but had never quite reached it. He had always helped her, watched her and cared for her although she was often a bitch in return. Not that he had always been nice. But she could be, sometimes. Her smile made him smile. It made putting up with all her mood swings worth it. She was the one he kissed. She was the one he had told. _She was the one he told that he was in love with her._ So why did it seem like she was now trying to desperately avoid him? Every time it seemed like he got closer to her, she had disappeared a decent hour beforehand. Then the search for the troublesome Yamanaka would start again. He briefly wondered if his father had done the same thing with his mother, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

"Anybody who willingly marries Ino has to be insane." Correction. When he was certain he was still in love her and there was the off chance she might reply to him with something along the same lines (he had bolted out of the shop before she could reply) there was a slight possibility that he would ask her to marry him. Unlikely, he knew.

Wait, another correction. When he wanted to be treated like crap, then he would ask her to marry him. No, infact. Maybe yes? There were so many things Ino was, that it was hard to find a thing to describe her that she was not at all. But one word that was as such would be loving. Sure, she was nice when she wanted to be. But if you done one thing out of line, one thing to out step the boundary and piss her off beyond reasonable belief she would use any means to try and get your head on a plaque to be hung on her bedroom wall.

Then it came.

"You make me crack up sometimes, Shikamaru will be so glad to see you! Shall I call him when we get indoors?" Her voice. He lifted his head swiftly, looking away from the bright window display and breaking his train of thought. There she stood. Ino, in all her violently beautiful glory. Next to her, another woman. Older, a large fan on her back, with four dirty blonde pigtails tied up. The scent of green tea to battle the natural earthy smell Ino had, along with a smudge of makeup painted on her face. Ino wore lip gloss and sometimes eyeliner, but never mascara or actual lipstick like she did.

"Temari-san. You did not mention you were coming over from Suna again so soon when you left." He said, and the eyes of both women quickly landed on him. Ino paled, and Temari beamed. He would have at least attempted a smile back, but his gaze froze on Ino. The female from the sand seemed to notice this, but said nothing about it.

"You never asked. A hello would have been nice as well you know, and more polite." She answered, and Shikamaru groaned. It was tough enough having Ino on his case, but Temari as well? He might as well just have gone and learnt some suicidal technique right at that moment. Ino did not look at all pleased to see him.

"Yeah, yeah. Ino, we need to talk." He directed at the other woman, but she did not seem to care. Infact, her rather unhappy look had been replaced by another one. Another one which he knew all too well. The _shut up_ look. As in Shikamaru, _shut your mouth this instant_. But it was not going to work on him. Not this time.

"Do we, Shikamaru? Right now? Well, too bad. I need to be somewhere. You know, work. Things to meet, people to do. I mean, people to meet and things to do. You get what I mean, right?" She finished sheepishly, and absent mindedly grabbed her pigtail and began to tug at the ends nervously. She looked even more like she wanted to avoid this than he did, but he was the only one of both of them who accepted that it was necessary that they did so.

"Ino, I am sure he understands. How often does an artist offer to paint you simply because he wants to, and for free?" Temari smiled, and Ino looked at the other female. She seemed unable to look at him. Shikamaru stood, hands in pockets, eyes downcast and refusing to admit to himself it felt as though she had just ripped his heart out and ground it down into miniscule particles of dust.

"No, I am not sure I do Temari. Have you told her Ino? About what happened between us, or are you trying to persuade yourself it was all just your overactive imagination? Or better still, do you accept it and simply think that I am never going to be good enough for you? Or is it a mixture of both? Some other reason, perhaps?" Shikamaru said coldly, and Temari just stood shocked at his words. Ino on the other hand, looked as though she were about to punch his face in.

"No, Shikamaru. It will never be that you are not good enough for me. It will never be because I tell myself it was just my imagination. It will always be because of you failing to see when somebody really does care about you." She whispered, in a rather uncharacteristic way. He had expected her to shout and to scream. To kick and punch and simply fight him with verbal cyanide. But she had not. She did not look as though she wanted to hurt him at all, like he had originally thought. She herself looked hurt. In the corner of her eyes, he could see them. Tears threatening to leak. But they did not fall. Turning on heel, she was gone in an instant.

Leaving him with his hand outstretching to grab her hand and stop her, tell her he was sorry. He was being arrogant. But his hand only collected the off white smoke she had disappeared into. The thing is, whenever they fought he would aim to make her cry. Just to show he had one. He had only ever succeeded yesterday, and he had chose after that to never do it again. No matter how self-gratifying it was. When Chouji told him, he felt like a complete and utter git. Now he had gone and done it again. Being Ino, who would she go running to?

Sakura was currently with Tsunade, so Ino would know disturbing them would be suicide. She barely talked to Tenten. Hinata was out of town on a mission with Shino and Kiba. They were not expected back until later that day. Chouji was a no, because Ino might think he had gone there. She rarely talked to the rest of the females he did, par Mitarashi for information swapping seeing as she sometimes worked in the same department. Temari was right in front of him, looking a mixture of hurt and upset. He stopped to think a moment. Upset?

"Are you ok?" He asked gingerly. She looked at him softly.

"Not right now, but I will be." She answered, then turned on heel just as Ino had and sped off down the road. Presumably after Ino, in order to find her. His frown deepened. Temari had gone running after Ino, and he had achieved nothing by blowing it all in the space of five minutes. So that left only one option that Ino could run to, one option who she actually talked to and probably now trusted just as much as she did him. Wait, scratch that. Now probably trusted more than him, after this fiasco.

_Sai. _

"Shit, why did I not think about this?"

Ino looked up at the darkening sky, which was beginning to become cloudy. In complete polar opposite to what Shikamaru had thought she would do, she actually had no idea of running to somebody for comfort. No, she had taken the logical option and randomly gone to work again. But it had been locked. It appeared Ibiki had assumed she had finished up, and everybody else inside appeared to have gone without a trace too.

Plip. A drop of wet, cold liquid landed on her nose. In the past, Ino might have hoped it would not be something morbid like blood. But now, she hoped it was. The rain was all good and nice, but only when she could share it with somebody. Things were always more interesting that way. Just like it had been with Sai, that one time not so long ago. She smiled in nostalgia. Odd little memories like that were often the best ones.

Especially when Sai was involved. Sure, he was a little weird. But who was not in this village? They were mostly shinobi. Ninja. They were trained to kill, and being taught how to slit throats was hardly normal for most people. Plus, he was nice to her. Kind. He treated her well, and had the habit of showing up at the most unexpected moments when she just needed somebody there.

"Miss Beautiful?" She grinned before turning around to see the owner of the voice. Perfect cue, he would be a good actor if it was all based on timing. Yet as much as he paid her compliments and treated her like some beautiful muse, there was something not quite right. Whenever she felt that little tingle, the slight feeling indicating she might like him however much it felt right it felt so much more wrong. But with Shikamaru, it was different. She knew she should not be feeling anything for him, he was on her team. She had known his since he was about five, and had seen him go through all the embarrassing stages of adolescence. But strangely, it made no difference. As much as it felt wrong, it felt more right. She hated to admit it. But it was true.

_She was in love with Shikamaru._

The most lazy, most chauvinistic, most annoying bastard to ever walk the planet. But strangely, if she could have chosen who she fell in love with instead of proving that love was not only blind but ignorant she would not have it any other way. So with a heavy heart and a silently sad smile, she greeted the artist.

"Sai, hey. You turn up at just the right moments, you know that?" She smiled, and he grinned back. He looked quite confused at the same time.

"Yes. I suppose. What is this feeling? It's like something good has happened, I want it to happen again." Sai said, his smile becoming awkward like it usually did when there was something he either did not quite understand or was in a situation he was perplexed about. He was so predictable. She grinned.

"Are you happy, Sai?" She beamed, and he beamed back.

"Yes. I think I am. What are you doing in this area, anyway?" She looked upset for a short moment, and she knew it. Forcing a grin back on, she decided to wing it. Making it up as she went along would be better than telling the truth at this moment in time. She was not sure that she could handle it without bursting into tears because of that insensitive prick. Maybe she was just being dramatic. What did it matter? Yamanaka Ino was the drama Queen, but now when there actually was something to actually be dramatic about it was just all wrong. She wanted to scream.

"Looking for you. I was wondering if you could paint me now, or if you were busy." He must have known she was lying, because he looked slightly surprised that she would ask him to do so dressed in her normal outfit. Ino was the kind of girl who would spend hours laboriously simply_ planning_ the perfect outfit just to go out on a Friday night. She would never just turn up to be painted in her everyday outfit.

"You are lying." He said simply. Her smile faltered again as he stated this fact.

"So?" She said, knowing there was no point pressing on with it.

He grabbed her arm, then began to lightly tug her down the road until they reached a set of apartment buildings. Directing her up the stairs, he stood her still as they reached the first floor and he fished for his keys. Opening the door, he gestured to it with his hand.

"Go in. There are spare clothes in the first room on your right, kimonos and the like. If you want to wear something like that. I mean, what you're wearing right now is fine too." Sai stumbled over his own words, clearly not knowing quite what to say to her. He was acting like he had never painted somebody before. But surely he must of. She grinned. He was so sweet when he was embarrassed. She emerged a decent ten minutes later. She had a deep purple kimono on, although it was too big. It slid off her shoulders, exposing creamy white skin. Her hair was tied in a bun, the odd wisp of it springing out in rebellion at being tied back. She had no makeup but clear gloss on which he supposed she carried in her kunai pouch, knowing her. She did not know it. But Sai could see what he wanted all along. But one thing needed to be changed.

Reaching out his hand, he took hers and guided her gently to a wooden stall that he had placed in front of one of his plain cream walls. She sat down, pulling vainly at the fabric to make it stay up around her shoulders.

"Leave it for now." He said calmly, then without bothering to consult her rose his hand to her tied up hair. She flinched at first, wondering what he was doing. His hands released the hair clasp, letting the long lavender smelling curtain fall out. She seemed as though she were about to protest because of how long it had taken her to tie it up to begin with, but he backed away quickly and she contained her anger.

Picking up his black ink pot, he removed the lid and looked from her to the blank sheet of paper as she watched him do so intently. She did not smile, for the pictures he drew according to Sakura were supposedly always (in an odd way) mellow and beautiful.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, and she snapped out of her train of thought quickly. She looked at him gently before answering.

"I have never really seen any of your other artwork, have I?" She mused, and he looked up with an odd mix between a smile and a frown. Then his face went blank. She sat completely still, paralyzed in her seat. Had she said something to upset him? It did not appear so. Almost too quickly for her liking, Sai was on his feet once more and directing her to one of the three remaining rooms.

"This is where it all goes. My bedroom. You can take a look at it before I start to paint you, to see if you like my style." She frowned a moment. Then she grinned. Sai would never try anything. Although he was on the same team as Naruto, he was also on the same team as Sakura. That pretty much said it all, seeing as she could probably pound him into a bloody pulp. He pushed the ajar door open, and Ino stood in shock.

Around the room, paper littered the floor. There were probably hundreds of them, all covered in intricate and meticulously detailed painting, drawings and sketches. Each more amazing than the previous one she had just laid her eyes on. Book filled with his work lay open and strewn around the room, and they too were filled with pictures. Birds, butterflies, other natural beings scattered across pages in jet black ink. Then she saw it. Her eyes landed softly on the one book that was not open, and she saw his limbs freeze up just as hers had done when she asked the question what seemed like barely a few minutes ago.

She drifted over to it, her long slender fingers landing on the cover.

"I do not think that you will like that one." Sai told her calmly. She shifted her eyes to him, then smiled softly at him. Surely it was nothing terrible? It did not seem that he could draw anything that was not perfect in her eyes.

"Why not?" She asked, her hand not opening the book for a moment. If it was private, she best just leave it alone. She would not want to upset him, even if he did not understand the emotion. It was just wrong.

"You can look at it if you please. But you will not like it. I am certain." He said, his voice sounding no different to what it did sheer nanoseconds beforehand. He must be saying it because he thought they were bad drawings. Her pink lips pursed, and a wide smile came unto her face. She flipped the cover to see the first page.

A picture of her. When she was with Ibiki about three months ago, when he had told her she was to become the Captain of her own squad. She had never told him about that. So why had he drawn it?

She flipped the page again. Another picture of her, a few weeks after that when she had went to visit Kurenai. She had been barely a few months into her pregnancy, and had only just started to get a bump. She smiled at the memory, but felt the hair stand up on her arms. She felt oddly numb, although his apartment was well heated. What was wrong with her? It was just a coincidence she was in both of them, surely.

She flipped the page once more, seeing another thing she had done around two months ago. Meeting Hinata, in order to ask her about some ointments. She continued to flip though them until she reached three empty pages at the back. The most recent had been of her sleeping, and before that one of her and Shikamaru. They were getting more recent. Not only that, but there was a common factor in all of them.

_Her_.

She was in every single one of them. She felt a scream rising in her throat, but it did not emit. Her eyes were widened in shock, icy and cold as she turned to him. She managed to choke the words out.

"Is this some kind of joke?" She rasped, and Sai smiled. But no, this was not the smile she had thought so innocent and sweet. This one had true emotion in, no sign of the charming man he seemed to be.

"No. I told you that you would not like it." He told her, edging closer. She attempted to back away, but tripped on a cardboard box behind her that she had not seen. She landed harshly, her arms flailing in the air trying to reach for something to steady herself. But nothing had been there to stop her fall.

"I always felt something was watching me for that amount of time. Something following me. Protecting me. It was never sinister, but it killed those shinobi I could not finish myself a few days ago. That was you the whole time, was it?" She asked weakly, and he sat down next to her as she began to shake, looking petrified. Another emotion. He wanted to draw it. Not now, he would do her portrait first. Or the order would not be right in his book. The timescale would be wrong. All wrong. It had to be perfect. Just like she was. Until that other boy came along. Shikamaru had changed her. He made her different somehow. Shikamaru was a flaw, a flaw in the perfection that was Ino Yamanaka. A flaw that needed to be eradicated.

"Yes. I only want to paint perfection, Ino." She trembled as he grabbed her arms roughly, and pulled her up. He stroked her face, taking her features in.

"I am not perfect." She said, her voice quivering. He frowned darkly before replying.

"I know. But you were." He told her. She tried to move away from his grasp, but it was no use. Any will to fight had left her, and she found herself unable to do what she had been trained to. Do not show emotion, Ibiki had said. Do not show fear. Do not show you are scared. It was all so easier said than done.

"Why me?" She whispered. He looked at her, placing his head on top of her before breathing in her scent. Natural, earthy. Flowery, from working in her shop. She was a botanist, after all. A perfect little botanist for an artist to paint. Or, she would be again. Soon. As soon as he was rid of her flaw, that one thing that got in her way. His enigmatic reply told her nothing, calm and unfazed by her obvious fright.

"Because you will be perfect again soon."

Sai felt another emotion, the one that he had told her he wanted to feel again. _Happiness. _He was _happy_. Sai could feel it, it was certain. He was sure.

He painted her again that night.

* * *

Yes. This moves quickly. Sai is creepy in it, not to mention highly OOC at some points. But because he has no emotions, it is fun to play with theories of what would/will happen if/when he gets them. It does not have many chapters; it is only made for a short read. Because I get bored after a while, and the story would die out otherwise.

Thank you to **Esoteric Memories **and **sad little monkey **for adding this to your favourites! It really cheers me up knowing that somebody actually cares about this! Also another huge thank you to **Aerias-A-Writer** for adding this to your alert list. You guys all make me update quicker and write extra long chapters twice in a row. Because yes, this chapter was extra long too.

Reviews are loved. :)


	5. Satisfaction

Note: I should be doing my Astronomy coursework, but I cannot really be bothered

Warning (s): Language, violence, gore and (here is a stunner, if you did not gather from the prologue) character death.

Summary: _Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Dedication: All my reviewers for the past chapter; **sad little monkey**, **Esoteric Memories, tomboy14, animehime7, ****doctor.yakushi****, AkemixHanako, SliverOfSilver88, LuvInu88, joyrid3, CrazyGirlofManyNames **and **all of the anonymous reviewers. **Thank you all very much!

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

**_Satisfaction_**

* * *

Shikamaru knew that Ino liked romance novels.

No, not just liked them. Infact, she loved them. Ino was Ino after all, and Ino could either be very feminine or very violent. It usually ranged somewhere in between, and leaned more towards violent even on one of her better days. But of course, Ino being Ino still she also tended to be picky about what she read. She would always complain to him about them, especially if there was a situation in it which presented the woman as a harlot.

"It annoys me. Even female authors do it. The heroine of the story must be chaste and virtuous, but men can have harems of women which nobody bats an eyelid at and the woman has to save herself for her _'one true love'._ Infact, it even makes me sick. What, she can _fight _like the boys and _kill_ like them; not to mention go though just as _harsh_ and usually _violent situations_ like the boys, but she cannot _**play** _like the boys?" She would always rant, and Chouji would not in agreement while Shikamaru made a grunting noise she had always taken as a second agreement to her point.

Although he himself never really knew if it was an _agreement_. Although the thought of many Inos clamoring in a group and fighting each other just to be close to him did not seem a terrible idea, in his opinion. He doubted it would be bad in the opinion of any male in the village. But then again, it might get troublesome after a while. He would never, ever in his life if he wanted to stay alive tell Ino that. She would kill him before he could even offer some sort of excuse for it.

"Shino, have you seen Ino today?" Shikamaru asked his companion, who had never been the talkative type. The only reason he asked was because she had left her most adored of the damn things, the script of _Romeo and Juliet_ open on her counter at the shop and he did not recall her reading it for the past few months. Thinking about it, _Romeo and Juliet _half contradicted her rants just because it was the one she cared for most passionately. He was pretty sure she could recite some of the entire acts in their original English rather than in the Japanese translation she had purchased. Shino did not even glance at him, instead continuing to walk down the dirt path to the entrance gates of Konoha where he was meeting Chouji and Sakura. Three men (figuratively speaking) were all they needed for their mission. He could remember doing the same himself with Chouji and Ino, then a few times other than that Lee and Hinata for some reason or other Tsunade had concocted, probably at the last minute knowing her.

He knew that Ino had been with Kiba and Naruto. The simple reason was their sheer power. Naruto's strength and willpower, Kiba's stubbornness and raw power, then Ino with her mind and her efficiency. Sure, they had gone on a mission to crumble a government threatening Konoha. S class, Shikamaru was sure it had been. It should have taken three weeks, even with such a strong group. But they had returned three days later instead, the government nonexistent and with triumphant grins on their faces. Shikamaru had been scared, although he hated to admit it. That Tsunade might split up Ino-Shika-Chou, and make them into a new team. But it never happened. Although all three of them were promoted to ANBU level for it, Tsunade had never put them on a team together again. Considering their brute force, he could see why. Even for those trained as shinobi, that was an amazing feat but it was _terrifying_. Not even Tsunade herself had done a mission like that so quickly. As for Ino, she never asked Shikamaru why he avoided her for a week after that mission.

"I have not seen Yamanaka-san since her mission with Kiba and Naruto. She just handed me some paperwork and waltzed off somewhere without any explanation." Shino said, giving a stinging reminder of the mission once more and giving Shikamaru the distinct impression if Shino had seen her she would be begging him for forgiveness. Or would that be the other way around? She was amazingly cynical sometimes; knowing just how to explore every nook and cranny of the mind had made her able to pressure or persuade people into doing whatever she wanted without any effort. They had reached their destination, and Chouji appeared relived to see him.

"Shikamaru, have you seen Ino at all?" Chouji asked him. Shikamaru stared at the Akimichi a moment. He had not counted on Shino seeing her, but he would have thought even if she was avoiding him she would still be talking to Chouji as she pleased. Sakura coughed a moment as if to make a point, and they both looked to her. She grinned brightly at their acknowledgement.

"She might be with Sai. He offered to paint her, and I have not seen her all day. So I would assume she is somewhere with him, perhaps his house." She wiggled her eyebrows and giggled lightly, as if implying something. Not that the something she was implying was not completely obvious. Shikamaru said nothing before he turned on heel and walked in the other direction, the trio staring at his retreating back.

"Sakura, please never mention Sai and Ino in the same sentence again." Chouji groaned, running one chubby hand through his long untamable hair. Sakura glanced at him for a few seconds, before her grin grew and lit up her entire face.

"Shikamaru has a thing for Ino?" Sakura whispered gleefully, only loud enough so the other two next to her could hear it. Chouji thought about his answer a second, not knowing whether to make assumptions. He hated to keep secrets, because they could lead to trouble for other people. But maybe this time, it was for the best. Not to mention even he was no completely certain. They were both just so difficult towards each other, to put it politely.

"Perhaps." He answered. Meeting Shikamaru and Ino was most likely fate, his love for his best friends was unconditional; but both of their insane minds were things he had no control over in the slightest.

Perhaps was a good word.

* * *

"Ino, please remain here. I will bring you the book, just as you desire."

Sai looked so calm, so unaffected by what he was doing that it made her feel uneasy about her own level of skill. Sure, she knew she could probably take down half of the current ANBU members that were under the command of Ibiki and herself but this single person was something else entirely. She had been so silly to think that she was strong, not just in mind when he was around her. His speed and skill were almost inhuman, each of her own strengths upped by him in every way. Except perhaps genjutsu, but that involved the mind. It was different, because she had known how well she could mess around with heads from a very young age when her father first taught her how to use astral projection techniques. Sure, it was not very efficient now but it did the trick.

"You will bring me it just because I want it?" She asked, and he nodded. She smiled truly, and he smiled back though it was for a different reason than what he probably thought. He probably was certain she just wanted to read it. But she was thinking of a plan of escape, something much more risky than simply getting a book for her.

"Parting is such a sweet sorrow, but do not worry. I will be back soon." He told her, and she attempted another smile at his quote of the book she desired.

"Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, I see. Can I not get it myself?" Ino finally managed to force a fake smile back on, and Sai did a mock bow before her as he took her hand in his own. He was frowning, but she was sure he would say yes. He appeared to listen to her every whim, and she needed to get out of here. He had already asked her to stay the night with a threatening tone, and although she slept on his bed and he on the sofa something was still foreboding about the whole situation. _Well, of course it was foreboding. He stalks you, _she reminded herself darkly.

"I cannot allow it. These violent _delights_ have violent _ends_." He grinned manically, and she withdrew her hand quickly. She immediately regretted it, as his eyes looked up at hers in a hurt manner that wanted comfort and an apology for her action. Strange thing, she did not know whether to cry or not. What did he mean by that? Her throat stung as she attempted to finish his last quote, as although he was clearly articulate he had probably planned this all out if he even knew quotes from her favourite play.

"And in their triumph _die_, like fire and powder." She choked out finally, as if gasping for air.

He smiled at her, placing his lips softly on hers for mere seconds then turning back as she sat on the floor looking up at him. It was like he was a hunter, and she was a rabbit. There was no way she could win, no matter how fast she ran. Even if it was not him, somebody would catch her in the end. She could feel herself shaking again as he spoke once more, before walking out of her sight and allowing the door to shut silently behind himself. The idea of even attempting to escape was entirely out of the question.

"Which, as they _kiss_, consume."

* * *

Shikamaru was vaguely aware that he was being watched.

He had entered the shop hoping to find Inoichi with some explanation as to where Ino was, even if it was a vague one. He knew she never explained where she was going to her father all to descriptively, because he was quite _protective_ to say the least. Something darted across the room quickly, and he raised his hand to smack whatever it was off balance to stop it from coming in his direction.

He grimaced as the bug splattered into the wall, leaving a small strangely coloured stain. He was getting paranoid, being in a practically empty shop. Though he supposed it would not be empty, otherwise the door would not be open. Her father was probably upstairs, she might even be. Maybe in bed still, because sometimes even Ino had her lazy days.

"Ino, are you up there?" He tapped on the door before opening it, going up the long curved stairs to enter the house. No sign of Inoichi, and when he had been downstairs he noticed that her book that had been there earlier was gone. No answer from her either. She just had to be in bed. Walking down the white painted corridors, her lightly shoved open the door to her room. The scent of flowers and something else mixed in hit him straight away, and he blanched at it. That had never been there before.

"I wondered when you would show up." A chilling voice came as the bedroom door closed shut. It sounded like Inoichi, he was probably just ill. Turning to face the man, he was expecting to hear Ino was just ill or had gone off somewhere for the day. But the sight that met his eyes was far from what he would have guessed it to be.

Ink. That was the smell. Ink and blood infact, not just ink. He felt the bile rising in his throat, threatening to emit at the sight of what had once been the father of Yamanaka Ino. His skin had clearly been ripped in some places, although there were no stitches to hold it together. Instead, black ink covered the places where blood should have been falling from, covering his aging skin in such a way Shikamaru was not sure if the man was still human. One eye had gone, no longer in the socket or in sight for that matter. Only one of the startling blue orbs his daughter shared remained, staring endlessly at Shikamaru but not quite registering him at all.

"_Fuck_. What _happened_? Where is Ino? We need to get you _help_!" Shikamaru gagged, covering his nose quickly. He was already feeling sick from the stench, and he was trying to rearrange his scrambled thoughts into something logical. Even though he was supposedly a genius, he was drawing a blank. Nothing came to mind. How was Inochi even still standing, still alive even? Damn it all, where was she?

"Help? That was what the other boy said. Look what he done to me. I should have seen right through his illusion, I am a Yamanaka after all. But I did not, did not even stop to think whether or not the poor injured child might actually be in perfect health and ready to kill me. You are here to finish the job. Why mimic the form of Shikato? He is older now, not as young as he was then. You are an old enemy, I am guessing. From when I was in the ANBU units, just as my daughter is now. You will not harm her." Inochi spoke coldly, then began to raise his hands in an all to well known sign to Shikamaru.

"Inoichi-san, it is Shikamaru. Shikato's son. I am trying to help you, please go to the hospital. I would never harm Ino. Never in my life, and I would never let anybody else hurt her either." Shikamaru spoke quickly, but the one remaining bright blue eye looked to him as though fire were burning in it with some unknown force.

"Shikamaru did hurt her though. He let her go and study under Ibiki, when I though he could influence her better than I could. Ibiki is a bastard, and he was the one who let the rest of our family _die_, using us like disposable tools. She is just another tool now; I do not care if I hear he favours her. I know otherwise." Inoichi hissed, then muttered the words Shikamaru had heard Ino say so many times before in training.

Shikamaru stood rooted to the spot, stunned at the words that the thing that Inoichi now was had spat out so vehemently. Although he was sure at that moment that Inoichi would have him, nothing happened. Nothing hit him. When they were in training, he could still remember the odd feeling of something inside him being replaced. But nothing came. He glanced at what was left of the older man, who stood still and rooted to the spot.

"Inoichi-san?" Shikamaru whispered. No answer came. He observed him, watching carefully for a moment before he moved. The bright blue eye had frozen, eyelid beginning to droop. The ink holding his skin together was starting to drip off slowly to reveal the deep gashes and spot where skin had been sheared off completely. Shikamaru was sure he could even see his elbow bone sticking out of one arm where the skin had been torn off altogether. Who would do that to Inocihi, and why? The old man was paranoid because of his ANBU days just like his own father, but he had never once mentioned it. Instead, the entire older generation of Ino-Shika-Chou never said a word about it. They were just slightly more alert, slightly more ready and more prepared for an attack at most times.

Another darker thought came to mind. If this was what Inoichi had become, what had become of Ino if she had been attacked as well? He looked around the room for some sort of clue as to who it was, but nothing caught his eye.

As he walked downstairs, he glanced around the flower shop once more. Maybe whoever had done it was still there, although he could sense nothing. He had to alert Tsunade, see if anybody could find out what horrible thing had happened to Ino's father. Even though he himself was not really sure that he wanted to know. Then finally, he saw something from the very corner of his eye, something he was sure had not been there when he had entered.

Perhaps he should have left it to the ANBU agents that were on a higher level than him, but picking that one thing up to take to Tsunade would never do any harm. She would probably use it somehow, knowing her. It might still have traces from whoever had drawn it, if it had been a shinobi. Which it most likely was. Being able to do something like that to a human was not something any passer by on the street could do.

He glanced at the sheet of paper quickly, and felt his skin crawl. He wanted to shout out and scream like he was sure a female would have, but no sound would emit from his throat. It was a drawing. Beautiful and precise, delicately and patiently drawn. _Perfected_, even.

In his hand on that sheet of paper was a drawing of Ino.

* * *

"For once, I do not think we all know why we are here."

The opening sentence Tsunade used was enough to grab their attention even if they had not been wondering why there was a sudden unexplained meeting of their teams for no apparent reason. Sakura, Shino and Chouji were the only absent ones. But somebody had been sent after them, so they would probably be present again soon enough. Silence rang throughout the room, not one of them speaking a word. Not one of them had done anything wrong or completely screwed up a mission or _anything_ really terrible.

"Yamanaka Ino. You all know her quite well, correct?" Tsunade lifted up the photo of the one remaining member of the Yamanaka clan, and they all nodded a yes to affirm her enquiry. None of them probably knew where this was going, Shikamaru thought briefly. But just maybe one of them knew where she was. Just maybe she was safe. He hoped to something, anything even a God that she was. Although in their world where they killed for their own gain, they never could believe in a God. That was what Shikamaru believed. He would never forgive any of them, not even Chouji who was the kindest of them all and who avoided killing people or even injuring them unless it was necessary when on missions.

"Today her father was found half dead, and a few minutes later died. He seems to have been brutally tortured, and Yamanaka Ino is nowhere to be found. If anybody knows of her whereabouts, even where she was last seen it could be important information." The Hokage stated, and Shikamaru briefly wondered why she had not asked him where she had last been. It did not seem she had to. Naruto was trying to maintain his usual grin, but it did not seem to be succeeding by the look of it.

"Sai, did you paint her last night? You did offer to paint her, so is she still at your house or something?" Naruto asked Sai, his smile finally dropping.

Even if she was there, her father was dead. She was the kind of girl who mostly depended on her father, and being only eighteen and not even yet classed as an adult by their law she would have to find a way to make more money from missions, although she already got decent pay from the higher ranking spying mission as well as take care of herself all at the same time. Sometimes even now Shikamaru knew that she woke up screaming, because he could remember the one mission they had done together when Chouji was ill. It was only B rank, but they were gone for about a week because the place they had traveled to was so far away. He had held her as she slept when she did so, and when he woke up in the morning (he always woke up later than her) she would have removed herself from his arms and be dressed, outside with a hot bowl of food ready to get going. She hated waiting around, being as impatient as she was.

"Yes. She left after ten minutes; she hated sitting still for so long. I have no clue about her whereabouts however, I am afraid." Sai said, and Shikamaru frowned. That sounded just like her. As fussy and impractical as ever. But Sai was an artist. His eyes flitted upwards a moment, and he was not surprised that they met those of the man who Ino seemed more preoccupied with than she had been with Sasuke.

"Hokage-sama, do you still have that picture I gave you?" Shikamaru asked, and she looked at him. Grasping what he was thinking, she muttered a yes and pulled it from her pocket and handed it to him before he even had to ask.

"Sai, do you know who drew this? Are you familiar with his or her artwork?" Shikamaru asked, and Sai smiled his ever odd half smile-smirk that perplexed them all at the best of times. He raised his hand, and took it.

"I do not believe so. Infact, I barely have an idea. Guesswork would most likely implicate the wrong person, but I can do some research on this style of painting. I myself prefer to use charcoal black instead of crimson coated in black. I suppose that style gives it a little more modern style, but I do not think crimson would suit Ino. I would use purple as well as crimson, if I chose to use it anyway." Sai said quickly, clearly enthusiastic about what he was talking about. Shikamaru was pretty sure he could have given lectures on it, but he finished abruptly.

"So you have no idea?" Shikamaru said, and Sai continued his strange smile.

"Not a clue."

* * *

The meeting had ended over three hours ago, and still there was no sign of Ino.

Chouji, Shino and Sakura had returned. When they heard of the situation, Shino had seemed more than concerned. Tears had welled in the eyes of the rosette haired female, who swore that if need be she would tear down every building until she found her friend. Chouji had gone pale, his complexion wane and chalk-like. He was currently in the library with Kiba, tearing up information on some names that Sai had suggested used the colouring technique. So far their search had proved fruitless, but Sai had not seemed in the least deterred by it. Eventually the sky had become dark, and they had all seen the time on the clock. It was late. They had all headed off in their individual directions, Chouji had been with him ten minutes ago but they had split off when he had reached his home. Even if Chouji was already in bed, he doubted he was asleep. He doubted any of them would sleep tonight.

"Shikamaru. Is that what she calls you, or is it Shikamaru-kun? Perhaps even Shika-kun? I hear pet names are a sign of affection." A stiff unpracticed laugh came from the dark streets around him, and Shikamaru looked around for some sign of where it had come from. The sound of rhythmic footsteps, careful and precisely in time filled his ears. It was coming from his left. He looked around to see someone emerge from the shadows.

"Sai? Is this necessarily to do with the investigation to find Ino's whereabouts, or is this just random? Because I really need to get home and explain what has happened today to my father. Inochi-san was a close friend of his." Shikamaru explained in a half-assed tone, and Sai smiled so coldly Shikamaru could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"No, it is to do with her whereabouts. I know where she is." His smile remained constant, and Shikamaru felt his face light up in relief. He had found something in the end, even if it meant chipping in a few extra hours. He had never felt so thankful towards anyone, as much as he disliked the other man.

"What are you waiting for then? Round everybody up, we need to go and get her!" Shikamaru yelled, half madly and half in sheer happiness that she might be safe. His grin was lopsided, and he felt almost as energetic as Naruto seemed for once in his life. Then Sai laughed. He was laughing. Actually laughing. Shikamaru stared at him, not knowing what he was doing. He knew the other man did not understand emotions, but at a time like this laughing was not at all comforting. It was actually quite unnerving.

"I do not think you understand me, Nara." His tone was icy, and Shikamaru did not know what to say. Did he mean that Ino was most certainly harmed? Even ceasing to exist? He knew he could not handle it if she was like her father now was. He could not even bare to think the word. He knew he could not handle it if she was.

"Is she injured?" He asked, managing to get the words out after much inner conflict as to whether he could bring himself to even ask or not. Sai ignored him, pulling a small but fairly thick book from what appeared to be nowhere.

"No, Shikamaru. She is not. Let me just find the quote, I do not think I remember it. I have been dreaming of this moment as well. I remembered most of them for her, so I guess it is just you. Here it is. Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one _dead_ in the bottom of a tomb." He laughed harder, and Shikamaru stared a moment.

"What are you saying?" He choked out, and Sai grinned at him in a way Shikamaru never though possible. For a person with no emotions, he seemed to have a clearly more insane amount of them than the dramatic Ino all at once.

"Can you even quote Shakespeare, Nara? Or have you never bothered to attempt to read her favourite book? That is why she and I are perfect together. I know all about her. You were never good for her. She was so beautiful and perfect until you came along. Then you touched her, you kissed her. You made her fall in _love_. That was never supposed to happen. You were never supposed to _kiss_ her." Sai rambled, and Shikamaru took a few steps backwards. Sai was not just emotionally looking insane. He had actually lost every last clear amount of sanity with those words.

"It is _you_! _You _do know where she is! _You_ still have her! What have _you_ done to her?" Shikamaru roared in the silence, and the darker haired man looked up at him.

"Nothing. I just like to paint her, but she never looks perfect in any of my pictures. Not after the little incident with _you_ and her in the shop! I need to destroy her flaw!" Sai shouted back, reaching immediately for his weapon, as did Shikamaru. They were both quick and precise, their drawn kunai both hitting each other at what seemed like the speed of sound. Faster than any fight Shikamaru had ever been involved in, anyway.

"Tempt not a desperate man, Sai. That is one quote I do know from it. She _loves_ that one." Shikamaru whispered into his ear, and they both jumped away quickly. They both landed gracefully, dust clouds billowing in the air as they did so. Their unspoken words hung silently in the air, but both could hear them clearer than church bells. This fight was not just a spar, some small training in some sick kind of joke.

This time it was until the _death_ of either one of them.

* * *

When Sai painted her that night, she did not speak a word.

She did not mention the odd scent of the new medium he used, and he supposed if she eventually did fall asleep rather than just staring aimlessly at his hand as it guided the paintbrush around the blank white sheet that when she awoke in the morning their was a possibility she would. Because all though she may not mention the scent, she was not colour blind. She still might question one thing.

The reason why his _'paint'_ was now crimson. Or perhaps, if it was two questions she asked it would be about something else related to it although not entirely.

The reason why he was so _satisfied_ about it.

* * *

The penultimate chapter of an extremely fast-paced story. Only the next chapter and the epilogue to go. Please bear in mind before you read the final sentence I type in this note that my spelling is U.K English and yes, Sai is supposed to be extremely OOC to fit with the plot.

Once again, a humungous thank you to **CrazyGirlofManyNames **for favouriting this, and both her and **tomboy14** for alerting it on the release of the previous chapter!

Reviews are loved. :)


	6. Love

Note: I had not read Catch 22 by The Sh33p until **Esoteric Memories **mentioned it in a review for the last chapter (or at least, I do not think I did.) If I had, I may of just had the idea imprinted in my mind as after reading about that mission in the work of that wonderful person and finding out about that mission idea made me like 'darn, non-original idea.' So apologies to The Sh33p (though I doubt you will ever see this) and a thank you to **Esoteric Memories **for pointing that out.

Warning (s): Language, spoilers for manga chapter 382, gore, violence.

Summary: _Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession._

Dedication: All my reviewers for the past chapter; **tomboy14, CrazyGirlofManyNames, SliverofSilver88, sad little monkey, anime hime7 (now CallMeClandestine), Esoteric Memories, doctor.yakushi, AkemixHanako, thunder sister, Crystal Inferno, MimozaBlooming **and **all of the anonymous reviewers. **Thank you all very much!

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

_**Love**_

* * *

Chouji knew something was happening, though he was not sure what.

Neither Ino nor Shikamaru had been on time for their training session. It was expected of Ino at the current time, as nobody even knew where she was. It was even expected of Shikamaru, as he was sending out what was practically a manhunt for her. Aside from the fact she was a woman and a motley group of teenagers (although powerful) with hardly any tracking skills whatsoever was barely an entire police force. But it was also expected Shikamaru would be sleeping, which was why he had gone to his home this morning. Yoshino had told him that Shikamaru had not been home all night, and his father had muttered something obscure.

Neither of them knew or even seemed to care that Shikamaru had gone looking for Ino, because she had disappeared for days on end before only to return with a silly grin to make everyone forget they were ever worried. She just usually got lost or something on the way back from a mission; infact that was always the case exactly. But this time, she was not on a mission. He had the feeling she would not turn up with some pride to swallow as she asked them to forgive her. Because if Shikamaru had returned, that may have been the case. But as he was nowhere to be found, what did that mean? Whatever got Ino got Shikamaru?

He clenched his chubby fists, then unclenched them again as he told himself not to be a pessimist. It had never been in his nature to act like that, but something just felt plain _wrong. _Like he was out of a loop, and the dark clouds gathering in the sky were emitting a foreboding feeling that he guessed was beginning to rub off on him. But it was not until he saw the crowd, people _pushing and shoving and shouting and screaming_ in a circle. Some moving away, some pushing through to see something unknown. Like some form of hysteria had taken them all over.

He decided to copy the example of a selected few of them, pushing a few out of the way to move forward with his feet padding on the floor heavily to make a drumming noise. Some stared at him, some looked away. He did not know whether it was through fear or shame, and even them he had no clue why they would be looking at him in such a way until his eyes connected with what all this commotion had been started over.

He fell to his knees, reaching out his hand and touching the head of the other man softly. Surely it was a fever, or he was sleeping. He could feel his body shaking, his head spinning and eyes going blurry as he moved his hands once more and began to shake him by the front of his standard issue green flax vest. There as a new voice booming over the others, telling everyone to _move away _and _find his family_, but it was a while before Chouji recognised the voice as that of Tsunade. He could feel a hand on his shoulder shaking him, calling his name but he closed his eyes and ignored it. There was still no movement from the person he had been shaking, and it was only then that he managed to register that his skin had been pale and icy cold beneath his own of a pink fleshy colour to show that he was full of life. He finally blacked out, but there was still no movement from the body.

Out of sheer force of habit, Tsunade looked at Shizune to give confirmation. She was holding Tonton still where they had hurried out of the room, and she was gaping in a mixture of horror and shock. But they had been followed, and those who had been on guard last night looked at his body in guilt. Though if he had not been able to prevent his own death, who would have been able to? They were far less powerful, with duller minds and less wit.

"Time of death, unknown. Time found, ten o'clock." She saw Ibiki approaching, and he had quickly memorised it. There was no need to write it down, it could be done later. Then she heard another female say it, probably Anko. She was the only one straightforward enough to tell her right away that they had a problem when everyone else wanted to ignore it.

"If that test positive as the same ink they found in the flower shop, then we are all most likely fucked." Tsunade looked around, and she could have laughed. Yes, it was Anko. Only she was ever that blunt, but it was true.

"Maybe not." Genma protested weakly from beside her, and although Tsunade almost did laugh at that she bit her lip until it bled to stop herself. But Anko had no such respect for his words, and she said what she thought straight away.

"Well Genma, how many people can kill top strategists like Shikamaru Nara?"

* * *

Naruto was sitting at his window when he heard the news.

He had not been the first person he cared about to pass on in such a brutal way. The pervy sage had been done in by the Akatsuki, which would not even have been a pretty sight when the body was found if Jiriya had been Yukie Fujikaze in all her glory of Makeout Paradise: The Movie which he had insisted tickets for was a good present for Kakashi's birthday the year it had gone to the big screen. Needless to say, Naruto had his unstable young innocent mind even further perverted from the day on which the pervy sage had decided his student should see his work. But with this fond memory also came fond memories of Shikamaru, from when they were young. So although he was covered in ink and dirt from training with Sakura and Sai that morning, the news led him to go straight to the main entrance of the Hokage's building to find Tsunade to arrange something special. Just as he had for the old pervert.

Sakura had heard the news from Tenten, but dismissed it as an exaggeration of an injury.

There was no way in which Shikamaru could have been that easily killed, for he was too smart. He would never just be found dead in the middle of the road, his body lifeless and surrounded in ink and blood. Not in the state which Tenten seemed to think his body was in, so she was expecting to find him in the hospital with just a broken finger and a frown that the rumour had even started. So when she had seen Chouji instead, Tsunade telling her that it had really happened Sakura had frozen as she looked at the ink on her hands from training that morning.

It occurred to Hinata first that the news was correct, and it was useful information.

She had walked into the hospital like a lady, to find Neji for her father. Lee had said he would be here. So it had been logical. With a graceful air she had walked over to Sakura, her usual shy expression on her face before she became worried and asked why the rosette haired woman looked so distraught. When she was told what had happened, she recalled the fact that every artist in Konoha had since had the ink from the flower shop incident compared to theirs but one exception. If the ink from Shikamaru had matched the ink from Inoichi, they were related incidents and it was not as though the men were complete strangers. So she suggested taking an ink sample from one of the wounds Sakura had received that morning, and Sakura had agreed to the proposition.

Shizune got the news from Tsunade that the ink was a positive match.

She knew Sai was the same age as Naruto, or perhaps just under or above it. He had been calm in the glaring intensity of the metaphorical spotlight at the meeting, even suggesting a way to catch the artist. But his own method had helped catch him out. He had killed Inoichi Yamanaka, probably knew the whereabouts of his daughter and murdered the top strategist in Konoha for a currently unknown reason. But when she heard the news, Tsunade also told her to ready a team to storm his apartment. She said to try and do it discreetly, to take those close to him so he could understand what he had done at its fullest extent. Although she knew Tsunade was an expert in medicine, Shizune did not think she was an expert in reading minds and so she begged to differ from this idea mentally. But she followed her orders anyway, readying the needles that she sometimes used with medicine now as weapons once more as she prepared for what could be a brutal fight.

Neji heard the news whilst he was going through the evidence.

He had been working continuously on finding the whereabouts of Yamanaka Ino restlessly, like a scientist who had a method in his madness. Then Tenten had come to him quietly, telling him all that she knew. Although he was not the one to figure the entire situation out, he was slightly thankful. But he had realised something the rest of those concerned may not have. He was fairly observant, and whenever he went to the Yamanaka florists for some reason or other Ino was always perched precariously on the edge of a seat, absorbed in the text of _Romeo and Juliet_ like only a romantic could be. Infact, he never saw her without it in the shop. But it was gone. Therefore, whoever had the book had Ino. So even if they were perhaps on the off chance seemingly wrong for some reason, all they needed to look for was the book. He had told Tenten this, who had sent word to Tsunade and Shizune.

"Neji, do you think Ino is dead?" Tenten had whispered afterwards, her throat rasping slightly and looking as though she were about to cry on the thought of losing her friend. He felt awkward. Dealing with emotional women never was his forte.

"Well, there could be the possibility. But Ino would never go down without a fight." He told her, and Tenten smiled. Neji knew that all too well. He had provoked Ino once before, thinking her weak and telling her she was nothing to be exceedingly proud of in their world of fighting. There were many much better. She had not taken it lightly.

Infact, she had challenged him there and then on the spot. He had scoffed at her confidence, but an hour later he had a broken arm and a bloody nose. Not to mention cuts donning his arms and a ripped shirt, and the fact that she had been in his mind more than once without any visible affects to her but losing a slight amount of energy. It had ended violently, both of them with support for many broken bones and plasters Sakura had jokingly insisted they both needed. Though personally, Neji always had though it was just to humiliate the both of them seeing as she gave him pink ones. If anyone thought the injuries were not bad enough, perhaps they would have seen that hearing Ino bitch about how she hated the colour green would have made then not laugh if he had chose to accept defeat.

"Yes, I suppose. I just do not want her to die like that." Tenten smiled softly, and he could not stop himself from chuckling although Tenten looked offended and hurt. She seemed to not understand things like he did, seeing everything through rose-tinted glasses rather than in the shades of grey he saw life in.

"Would you rather that she dies miserable and old? This is the way we live, Tenten. I can see that nobody would wish anyone to die in a way like that, but still. Sometimes it is unavoidable for a shinobi. We live to earn money by fighting and killing others." He said, and she kept her mouth closed firmly for a while before saying something that was a mix between a reply and going back to their previous topic.

"Sakura said that Ino always told her that_ Romeo and Juliet_ wanted to make her fall in love. She also said Chouji mentioned something he other day about not mentioning Sai and Ino in the same sentence, because Shikamaru was reacting badly to it. Are you catching my drift yet?" Tenten said, and Neji looked at her a moment before answering her question.

"You think Ino was in love with either Shikamaru or Sai, and Shikamaru was defiantly in love with Ino? But Ino was on his team, and Shikamaru knew the guidelines and rules well. Never show emotion, it is one of the most pressured for trainees to learn." He replied. Tenten frowned at him a moment, then it changed into a sad sort of smile he did not quite understand. She seemed to understand he did not comprehend her facial expression, but said nothing about that. Instead, her words seemed almost cold compared to his own.

"Yes, but that has only ever stopped a small few."

* * *

"What do you desire?"

Ino looked up, and Sai could see that something was different to how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to love him for getting rid of inconveniences. But there was water. Liquid and salty, pale as they slid down her cheeks.

"I want to go home. I want to train with Shikamaru and Chouji like normal. I want everything to be back to how it was a few days ago." She sobbed, and he felt the corners of his mouth turn downwards at her words. Was she not supposed to be happy? He was looking after her, giving her what she wanted on whim.

"That is not possible." He told her simply, and she looked as though she were about to scream at him, run at him and attempt to _hurt_ him in any way she could. But for the life of him, Sai could not comprehend why.

"Why not? My home is not far, you will not want me here forever. Shikamaru and Chouji are going to be looking for me. I know that I cannot turn back time, but please. I just want everything to be normal again." Ino whispered, although it sounded more like she was talking to herself than him. Was that called reassurance? He moved towards her, holding out his hand to pull her towards him and comfort her. But she backed away quickly when he came close to her skin, almost flinching infact.

"Why do you not love me?" He said, almost silently.

It was a simple enough question, Ino knew. He was purposely going off topic, but the question made her freeze where she was sitting. If she replies because he was keeping her here, the fact that he had not let her see anyone; what would he do? Laugh in her face, or hurt her? Sai was not the violent type, or he had never been violent towards her at least. If she replied that she did love him, just not in the way he loved her…it could be even worse. If she replied she did love him, and that he was being silly and childish it would be a lie. She hated to lie, but it would be a safe answer.

"I do love you. I just want to go home." She replied. He looked at her, a broken smile on his face as though he were about to laugh anyway.

"God damns all liars. If you read _Romeo and Juliet_ so frequently, I will assume you have read other texts that are well known." He replied, and she had a basic idea what he was referring to. Perhaps the Bible? She had never really been a holy person. The thought of preaching 'thou shall not kill' then doing her job anyway seemed ludicrous.

"I am not a liar." She hissed angrily, and he smiled brightly.

"I love it when you are angry; you are beautiful to paint like that. As you can see. But I am afraid that this time, I am not winding you up like other people do. You say you love me, but you do not mean it. If I recall, you even said to Sakura that reading _Romeo and Juliet _makes you want to fall in love. But that seems to be a lie too." His positive smile and tone of voice made her scream, and she launched herself at him. She was quickly apprehended, one arm twisted behind her back to almost breaking point. Ino heard herself cry out in pain, but her arm was let go of in almost an instant. He was too fast for her, and it seemed like he always would be. Slumping to the floor again, she could feel tears leaking from her eyes once more.

"I do not want to hurt you. I am sorry, Miss Beautiful." He moved in front of her, leaning forward in an odd way and enveloping her in an awkward hug. She was shaking, and she was well aware of it. But he did not seem to mind. Infact, if it was possible he was beginning to grasp her even tighter. Almost as though he were afraid of letting her go. Then she decided something she knew would be stupid. She decided to tell the truth.

"Sai, I really am sorry. But I do not love you in the way you love me. I love somebody else." She said softly, waiting for him to react in some way. He just carried on holding her, then raised one hand behind her back and began to stroke her hair.

"You loved Shikamaru. I know, but he does not matter now." Sai smiled, and Ino moved her face sideways so her nose touched his forehead when she pushed herself up slightly to whisper into his ear.

"What do you mean _loved_, I still love him." Ino replied. She felt Sai stiffen, but he carried on holding her and smiling like he had been for so long. It was unnerving.

"Ino, you cannot love somebody who is dead." He replied, and then laughed aloud.

"Shikamaru is not dead, he is perfectly fine." Ino replied, slightly confused. Shikamaru was perfectly fine; no harm had come to him in the past week. He had returned from his mission in fine health, and although they were not on the best of terms at the current time it did not mean she refused to acknowledge his existence any longer.

"No, Ino. I do not think you understand what Sai means. Move away from her." A voice came, strong but soft and feminine at the same time. They both looked around, and Sai glared at the woman standing there. Her pale eyes were staring at him intently, and he was surprised he had not even managed to detect her presence.

"Hyuga Hinata. That must mean that there are a few of you here. Naruto, the hag, the fatso. Your cousin and his team mates. Your team mates. What does my house look like, the communal gathering hall?" He growled, and Hinata raised her hands in front of her in preparation for if he attacked.

"Yes, you are correct. You are surrounded, so I suggest you do as I ask." She replied. Ino had never heard her friend speak so harshly, and she wondered why. Sai had called Chouji _that _word. He would not take that lightly if it was him who got a hold of Sai.

"Why would I need to? I can get past you all. Without any harm coming to her." Sai snorted cockily; gesturing to the woman he was sitting next to. Hinata smiled back at him.

"Yes, but harm will still come to you." She replied, not at all sounding sure of herself. Sai grinned at this, standing up and advancing towards her until the palm of her hand was resting over his heart. Ino was not the only one who knew how to mess with minds.

"Go ahead. Harm me. Kill me this instant." He grinned, and she felt a icy shiver run through her body. She knew that he was trying to scare her, but she never expected it to work. Right now she could feel the hair on her arms and the nape of her neck sticking up anyway. How could he have this affect merely by telling her to kill him? She had killed before. It was only normal in her job. But he felt different. Like he was gladly accepting it, almost waiting for her to make sure that it happened. But it never did.

There was a loud crunch, then a crumbling noise before his wall fell down as a pile of rubble. He had no harsh feelings towards the woman next to him clearly, but he was not prepared to lose her to them for that very reason. Grabbing her arm roughly, he pulled her in front of him and whipped out a paintbrush before sticking it by her neck. She trembled slightly, but did not seem to understand why Hinata, Sakura and the others standing behind the emerald-eyes female were looking at the small black ink mark he had put on her neck was being eyed with such horror.

"Sai, what are you doing? What have you done?" She screamed loudly, and only Chouji could meet her eyes on these words.

"Ino, he killed your father. He also killed-" Chouji was cut off by her howling as a small ink-covered cut appeared on her neck, and Sai daubed another splotch on her throat just inches below. Tears stung at her eyes.

"You_ killed _Shikamaru_,_ you _arsehole! I hate you! _Let me go!_ Now!"_ Ino did not seem to care that it might put her in further danger, but she was acting on suspicion and it seemed her suspicions were correct. Sai held her as tight as it seemed he could as she struggled, his grip vice-like at her words.

"You do not hate me. You love me. _You love me!_" Sai suddenly roared, and she froze. Her eyes roamed all of her friends, staring at the scene and clearly unsure of how to handle it. She could be harmed at any moment, even killed. But that was not what mattered to her right now. From where Lee was standing, he could se civilians looking up at the block of flats and pointing at the cluster of shinobi standing there. This did not make them appear very useful. If they could not protect Ino, one single female, who of them could they protect? He felt his gut churn at the idea as he saw a girl who looked about five years old and briefly saw in his mind her lying on the pavement covered in ink and blood.

He met Shizune's eyes, and she stared back as he looked from her to Tenten. She seemed to understand his idea. They all jumped as she began firing needles, and Lee met the eyes of his team mate for barely a few seconds but she seemed to understand anyway. Sai had pulled Ino away, and was only using one hand. With her, there was very little chance that he could block her perfected aim. She smiled to herself, then quickly picked up a few of the needles from the floor. She knew just where to hit to take him down for interrogation, to make sure that they knew everything before the likely event that Sai would become a victim of capital punishment.

"There." It was one simple word Tenten said before throwing a fistful of needles his way. Just as she suspected, he had not been able to block them all. He had blocked two, and dodged four. But she had thrown seven. It was then she decided that she was lucky. The one needle which was most important had hit in exactly the right place. Tipped with poison, he had dropped to the floor after it hit his throat.

Ino had fallen with him, in a far more graceful yet awkward way. They all stood silently for a second; looking as Ino leaned forward by him and whispered something in his ear they would never hear or know about.

"Sorry. I know all you wanted was _love_."

Sai smiled at her words.

"Incorrect. I wanted _perfection_."

* * *

Thank you to **doctor.yakushi, MimozaBlooming **and **thunder sister **for alerting after the previous chapter and another thank you to **thunder sister **for adding this to her favourites!

Bah, I think I am going soft. Some hinted onesided NejixTenten in that, methinks...should that have gone in the warning? :s

Only the epilogue to come now, and it should be up pretty soon.

Reviews are loved. :)


	7. Epilogue

Note: Epilogue.

Summary:_ Painting her, he decided, was something he loved to do. He never even stopped to think of the word obsession,_

Warning(s): Spoilers for manga chapter 328,

Disclaimer: Clearly, I do not own Naruto. Seeing as I am neither male nor Japanese.

* * *

**Kaiga Kanojono**

* * *

_**Epilogue**_

* * *

For Ino now, it was always a question of _what if…?_

_What if _she had simply stopped being so stubborn and admitted to Shikamaru that she loved him too rather than just shoving him out of the flower shop like she had around three years ago now?

_What if _she had never met Sai? If he had never been in the reformed Team Seven. If he had never been in Team Kakashi. If he had just been another face in the crowd, still handsome but just as inconspicuous and unnoticed to her as any other male she had ever randomly passed?

_What if _she had never loved Shikamaru? Would he still be alive today, still in the same team? Would Temari still be hanging around, still able to bear the sight of the other blonde female? Or would her relationship with Temari be as it was now, broken beyond repair? She knew Temari blamed her for his death, and she still had the nagging doubt in her own heart that if she had never been born, never came into existence even Shikamaru would be alive. If there was a way to make it like that, she would. Not because she welcomed death, but because she had cared about him more than herself.

_What if _she had been in love with Sai? Would he have ignored the existence of Shikamaru after he began to feel again, swept her off her feet and made her care about him? Would he have flattered her, changed her at all? Would Shikamaru have fallen in love with Temari instead, or continued pursuing her and have been noticed by Sai anyway? That way, it always felt that nobody would have been hurt at all. Nobody would have died.

Her eyes scanned over the three separate graves around the cemetery she was to visit that day, then to the three single and separate flowers she held in small wrappings resting on her arm at just the right angle so that she could not drop them.

On the grave of her father, the flower placed down was a verbena. It had a simple meaning. _Will you get your wish? _He had always told her he wished for her safety every birthday when he blew out the candles on the cake she made for him, he wished for her to have peace every time he saw a shooting star and each new year he wished for her to lead a good life in which she would find somebody she loved just as much as he loved her mother. Overall, he wished for her to be happy. She smiled at this thought, hoping he could see her wherever he was doing that for him before she walked a small distance to another grave.

Her eyes lingered on the grave of Sai for a moment before she placed the anemone down. She had never been a fan of capital punishment, but just perhaps in this one case it has been fitting. Nobody had wanted to hurt him, scared of what he had done. So she had taken the job on herself, and although she said she hated him for everything he done she still imagined his blood on her hands and scrubbed at herself every night to remove the red spatters she had covered herself in. All she could remember were his dead eyes, staring into some unknown oblivion before he told her she really was perfect now. His meaning was much more cruel, but the memories he haunted her with were the same way. _Forsaken_. She hoped her memories of him would be one day.

Finally, she drifted over to the last grave she was to visit that day. Shikamaru, would he be proud of her? Knowing that she had done something so vicious, she had to wonder about it. She placed down the acacia. _Concealed love. _It had been as well, had it not? They had always danced about until that week, avoiding any situations where they could be alone together without the chance of anybody else walking in. Darting around, preventing them from telling each other preventing their eyes from meeting, determined to stay as just friends. Yes, until that week when everything had gone wrong.

She had never really known what she had until she lost it.

With that thought in mind, she looked up at the skies that she could hear crackling sounds emitting from. Just like on that day she had refused to let Shikamaru walk her home, but then let Sai do so. It was almost as though it was mocking her, until the downpour came. She smiled as she thought of something she had once heard Shikamaru say when it had been raining after Asuma had died.

"Hey, Shikamaru. The sky is crying for us."

The sky only rumbled in response.

"It can see our wasted perfection."

Yes, and for all of them it had started with one thing that Sai had been doing.

_Painting her._

* * *

It is finished. To those who did not know, 'Kaiga Kanojono' means 'Painting Her.' Thank you to all those who reviewed, added this to their favourites and alerts lists, you get the general idea.

It is finally over. :)


End file.
